Portals of the Past

Portals of the Past is a monument located along Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park. The white marble pillars in the monument are from the entrance to the 1891 mansion of A. N. Towne, a railroad executive who lived in Nob Hill, a prestigious neighborhood in San Francisco. The mansion and its neighborhood were obliterated by a massive earthquake and fires in April 1906; the pillars survived. They were donated by his widow and placed here around 1909. They have become a popular site for holding small weddings.

A devastating earthquake and resulting fires in April 1906 ruined almost everything in Nob Hill, along with one-third of the city of San Francisco. Nob Hill was a prestigious neighborhood filled with mansions of the upper class before its demise in 1906. It included the house of Alban N. Towne, built in 1891. The white marble, Greek-inspired pillars from the front entryway to Towne's mansion stood tall when it was all said and done. Towne spent most of his life working for the railroad and towards the end of his career he was the Southern Pacific's second vice-president and general manager. Towne died of a heart attack in 1895, but his widow, formerly Caroline Amelia Mansfield, continued to live in the mansion until the 1906 disaster; both had been born in Massachusetts.

These pillars are a symbol of hope and a memory of what once was. They were donated by Mrs. A. N. Towne in memory of her late husband and placed next to Lloyd Lake at Golden Gate Park around 1909. The new location was chosen by architect Edgar A. Mathews.

The San Francisco Arts Commission completed a restoration project of the monument in 2008. Today, the Masonic Auditorium stands on the site of the former Towne mansion, at California and Taylor Streets.

Anonymous. "Death Came Suddenly." San Francisco Call (San Francisco) July 17th, 1895. 14-14.

Anonymous. Portals of the Past, San Francisco Memories. Accessed 2017. http://www.sanfranciscomemories.com/portals/ofthepast.html.

Black, Annetta. Portals of the Past, Atlas Oscura. Accessed 2017 and May 30th, 2025. http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/portals-past.

McLean, Tessa. How the Portals of the Past ended up in Golden Gate Park, SF Gate. September 8th, 2021. Accessed May 30th, 2025. https://www.sfgate.com/obscuresf/article/Portals-of-the-Past-Golden-gate-park-history-16429510.php.