Claus Spreckels’ Van Ness mansion at Clay was one of the most expensive private California homes of its time. Its architecture was similar to many German hunting lodges (Jagdschlösser) favored by Kaiser Wilhelm II. Built for his daughter Emma, the furnishings were purchased mainly in France and Italy between 1894-1896. Destroyed in the 1906 fire, and subsequently rebuilt, it was dismantled in 1927.
