Four-story Edwardian hotel built 1902 as the residence of California state legislator Milton L. Schmitt; cited as San Francisco's longest continuously-operating hotel and the focal point of Room 407's 'Lisa' ghost story.
1500 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Boutique hotel; room rates typically $150-$300/night depending on season and floor.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic Edwardian hotel with elevators and step-free public areas.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1902 · Longest continuously-operating hotel in San Francisco (per 2002 Feinstein proclamation) · Survived 1906 earthquake fire (fire-line ended two blocks east at Van Ness) · Original residence of Schmitt family (incl. California legislator Milton L. Schmitt, 1909-1915)
Maurice and Ella Schmitt commissioned the building in 1902 as a family residence, designed by architect Malcolm Cressy. Their son Milton L. Schmitt, born 1878, served in the California state legislature from 1909 to 1915. The family lived in the building for only a short time before converting it to hotel use in 1904.
The 1906 earthquake and the firestorm that followed devastated most of central San Francisco, but the fire-line stopped at Van Ness Avenue, two blocks east of the Majestic. The hotel emerged with only minor structural damage and reopened to guests quickly afterward — the foundation of its claim to be the city's longest continuously-operating hotel.
The building has been remodeled several times over its life. Owners added a fifth floor in 1965 and undertook a major restoration in 1985. C. B. Patel acquired the property in 2011 and continues to operate it as an independent boutique hotel under the Hotel Majestic name. Senator Dianne Feinstein issued a 2002 proclamation formally recognizing the hotel as the longest-operating hotel in the city.
Sources
The Majestic's haunted reputation has built up across more than a century of guest reports rather than around a single named tragedy. The most-cited room is 407, where guests have repeatedly described finding the bathtub partially or fully filled when entering the bathroom, faucets switching on overnight without anyone touching them, and the sound of keys jangling in the hall outside the door at hours when housekeeping is not active.
A secondary cluster of reports describes muffled footsteps in the fourth-floor hall, soft thuds and door-rattles in unoccupied adjacent rooms, and unusually vivid nightmares concentrated to the same floor. Hotel staff have collected enough of these reports over the decades that the lore is integrated into the property's storytelling rather than suppressed.
The identification of the activity with 'Lisa,' said to be a daughter of Milton L. Schmitt, comes from the hotel's own oral tradition. Schmitt's biographical record confirms his service in the California state legislature (1909-1915) but does not independently document a daughter Lisa who died in the building; the name should be treated as a hotel-lore identification rather than a confirmed historical fact. No documented death at the Majestic anchors the Room 407 story.
Atlas Obscura, The Haunt Ghost Tours, and the hotel's own history page all reproduce the basic story, with minor variations on the family relationship. Independent paranormal investigation has been limited; the activity is overwhelmingly reported by paying overnight guests and night staff, which makes the volume of accounts high but the conditions of observation impossible to standardize.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Book a stay in the four-story Edwardian that survived the 1906 earthquake and fire — the fire-line ended two blocks east at Van Ness Avenue. Guests interested in the haunted reputation can request fourth-floor rooms; staff are accustomed to inquiries about Room 407.
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