Photos: Inside the spooky San Francisco mansion that starred in season two of ‘The OA’
In real life, the property is known as both “The House of the Grand Passion” and the far-less-dramatic “Verdier Mansion.”
By Lindsay Blake | Variety
The love affair between Hanford and Guittard was by all accounts passionate, as copiously covered in newspaper accounts of the day. The two met on a golf course in early 1904 and, despite being married to others, began a relationship. By September they were both seeking divorces. Robert went about things in a rather blunt way, sending his wife a Dear John letter stating, “A man feels the grand passion but once in his lifetime. I have it for Mrs. Cavalsky.” Ouch! The note was presented by his first wife as an exhibit during their divorce proceedings (natch) and press outlets reveled in quoting it ad nauseum. Hanford eventually coughed up $52,000 to dissolve the union. As The San Francisco Examiner noted, the once-in-a-lifetime nature of Robert’s grand passion was “indeed fortunate” as it “cost him a pretty penny.” Cavalsky’s divorce was then finalized and four days later Robert and Gabrielle tied the knot themselves. The House of the Grand Passion was commissioned soon after, complete with an opulent wood-paneled ballroom where Gabrielle, a singer, is said to have entertained guests with her vocal agility.
Like so many wanton affairs, Robert and Gabrielle’s flame burned out fast. They secretly divorced in 1914, though rumors of trouble started in 1909 when a socialite named Lorena de la Montanya shot herself with Hanford’s gun at a dinner party in New York – a dinner party at which Gabrielle was not present. The entire occurrence was shrouded in mystery, with many doubting Lorena died by her own hand, despite the completely believable testimony of a witness who told police that de la Montanya suffered from “an irresistible whim to point every revolver she touched at her head.” Uh-huh. The marriage over, Robert sold The House of the Grand Passion in 1915. Four years later, it was acquired by Paul Verdier, grandson of The City of Paris department store founder Felix Verdier, who held onto it for the next 34 years. Though he was the pad’s most tenured owner, he mainly leased the place out to various entities. During his tutelage, the property served as everything from a theatre to a music conservatory to a World War II officer’s club (which JFK is said to have visited 17 times!) to a brothel run by infamous San Francisco madame Sally Stanford. The conservatory even operated as a Russian tea room for a time.
In 1992, the Verdier Mansion was purchased by a couple who thoroughly restored it and added some modern touches before flipping it. Today, the pad features a “world-class kitchen,” three terraces with views of the city, an elaborate wine cellar, a grand marble staircase, a media room, a game room, leaded glass windows throughout, and a master suite with both a fireplace and a bidet (because what’s a mansion without a bidet?).
The entrance to the towering property sits tucked away on the Vallejo Steps (which served as a goat path at the time of the home’s inception!) but the best views of it can be had from its eastern side on Taylor Street.
Up until 2013, the exterior was a natural stone color, but it was painted dark green by the then owners, who were followers of feng shui. Though green is said to represent growth and healing, the color gives the home an extremely ominous appearance and likely sealed its use on “The OA.”
The Verdier Mansion, commonly referred to amongst “The OA” fans and in Reddit circles as “The House,” is first featured in the premiere episode of “Part II,” titled “Angel of Death,” when a young boy named Donald (Van Brunelle) brings Karim there during the search for a missing teen. Karim is appropriately transfixed by the massive property as it comes into view, towering above him. The façade was altered a bit for the shoot with a peaked roofline and stained glass window featuring a rose CGIed onto the top floor.
The house goes on to become a focal point of season 2’s plotline. As we learn in episode 5, “The Medium & the Engineer,” in “The OA” world, the pad was built by an engineer and his medium wife in 1910, after the dwelling that originally stood on the premises burned to the ground in the fires following the 1906 earthquake. (In reality, the Verdier Mansion came through both the quake and fires unscathed.) As the foundation to the property is being laid, the engineer and his wife discover a natural spring running through the site and soon learn it possesses supernatural powers. Though the medium does not want to finish building the property, her husband feels it is their duty to protect the spring and comes up with a rather unconventional solution to design “a house that is a puzzle.” In solving it, “the worthy will reach the revelations on the other side of the rose window in the attic and the unworthy will be trapped and destroyed.” Fun, laughs, good times! At some point, the engineer decides to test the puzzle out himself, but fails and lands in a coma from which he never wakes up.
By the time that Karim descends upon the property, with its owner Nina Azarova (Brit Marling) in tow, it has long been abandoned and decimated by squatters who gained entry via underground tunnels. “The OA” writers seem to have taken a cue from the manse’s actual history for that portion of the story, as squatters did indeed commandeer the home for a time in the 1920s and transformed it into an opium den reached via tunnels.
Only the exterior of the mansion appeared on “The OA.” The interiors featured on the show were part of a large set (it took up two soundstages!) created by production designer John P. Goldsmith at Los Angeles Center Studios in downtown L.A. The actual inside of Verdier Mansion is much brighter and more subdued than its television counterpart, though some elements, like the french doors with arched transom windows, were borrowed for the set.
“The OA” set decorator Bryan John Venegas told the Set Decorators Society of America, “The mansion is much more than it appears to be. It is a living, breathing character in this season’s story. It needed to be inviting enough to compel the characters forward so that with every detail comes a new question. John masterfully created a map of the afterlife, a twisting, limitless mystery that leaves the audience wondering at every turn.” With its vibrant, checkered history, though, this is one location that is just as mysterious in real life as it was portrayed onscreen, if not more so!
Stalk It: The abandoned Nob Hill house from season two of “The OA” is located at 1001 Vallejo Street in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood, however, the best views of it can be seen from the 1600 block of Taylor Street.