Hamlin Mansion

A beyond beautiful venue! From the outdoor gardens and views to the indoor columns and rich wood work, this is a great venue for an intimate wedding & reception!We had the pleasure of creating a soft drapery Mandap for an indoor Indian fusion wedding, and it was a dream! The staff was wonderful & parking was not an issue! Looking forward to working at this venue again soon!

Great Place we looked at for our wedding and reception. This place has super original woodwork, beautiful Pac Heights views, and a great event coordinator. It is a school during the week, and it is kind of funny to see how they cover and hide the school-ness. But they do a good job. Wedding ceremony would be in the grand foyer, cocktail reception in the library (literally!) and parlor enjoying the grand view, and reception in the cafeteria. Only problems with this space are that the cafeteria feels a bit like a school cafeteria. A nice one, but a school cafeteria just the same. And walking between the foyer to get to a reception you would have to do some work to hide the playground and other things which would be a little artificial unless you spend some bucks on rental shrubs and stuff to hide the playground :-)The woodwork, foyer, and views really are amazing, as is the event coordinator. Here's some brass tacks: $5,000 plus $600 janitorial fee plus $360 party manager fee plus $1,000-$3,000 required valet parking for 5 hours of fun, 2 hours of setup, one hour of break down, and a grand piano for your use if you should so desire. They only use one caterer, Elaine Bell, but her prices are reasonable and she had good recommendations, with sit down dinners from $65-$125 per person and bar service for $20-$25 per person. Music ends at 11:30pm on Friday and Saturday, and 10pm Sunday and weeknights.Overall, if you want the classic San Francisco Pac Heights mansion wedding thing, and are considering Flood but want something a little lower cost, this place is worth considering.

An absolutely beautiful location to host a wedding. We attended a fall wedding here and everything was flawless, the venue staff extremely helpful, the venue itself very professionally handled. It's a private school during the week, and they've got it down to a science in terms of covering up library books, and school-like stuff to give the venue an elegant and non-parochial appearance. The view is outstanding. Absolutely gorgeous. *parking is extremely tough. *neighborhood setting, so guests need to be mindful outdoors. *nice outdoor landing for ceremonies (optional) I have no idea on pricing, etc but from a guest point of view...this is surely worth checking out for hosting an event.

Great views but we could not imagine transforming this school-by-day into a wedding venue. Also, no shuttles are buses were allowed at a certain time because it is situated in a residential neighborhood, atop a hill! Pricing was also not ideal because we would have to bring everything in, rent all items, pay for the labor of that, and cater. The estimate we got was too high for what we were getting. Go for a tour and decide for yourself though! Try not to go during lunch time when the kids are doing their cafeteria thing.

This is a review for the Hamlin mansion as an event space. As the other reviews indicate, it is a school for girls during the weekdays (look up Hamlin School for info there) and rented out as an event space on the weekends. This is where my husband and I held our wedding reception a couple of weeks ago.So the space itself. Well, it's a gorgeous wood-paneled mansion from the early 1900s with incredible views of the GG Bridge, the North Bay, Alcatraz, Ft. Mason, etc (definitely a crowd-pleaser as most of our guests were from out of town). You have several rooms at your disposal. We used the huge entry hall as our dance floor, the library and conservatory as set up for the bar and lounging area, and the dining hall (on a separate floor) for the meal. Whenever events are held, special wall panels go up to cover books in the library as well as any kids' art projects on the walls. It doesn't look at all like a school when the decor is up. A lot of folks compare this to the James Flood mansion (a block down the street), but here's the inside scoop. The Hamlin is basically the same style space for a few thousand dollars less on the total space rental. Save yourself a few bucks, and check out this place -- it was a better bang for your buck than the other spaces we toured (including hotels, museums/galleries, and Presidio options). Plus, you don't have to do much in the way of decorating -- this space looks amazing when sparse or when decked out with flowers and lights, f that's your thing. There are two built-in vendors for your event at the Hamlin. Parties Parties Parties is the event company that coordinates everything you need. You will automatically work with Moira, who will either handle the logistics of the Hamlin itself, or help you coordinate your event in its entirety if needed. We had an additional planner we hired on our own (check out Zahzoom!!), and she and Moira worked seamlessly together to make our event great. Moira manages all aspects of your table/linen rentals, decor, coordination with the caterer, pretty much anything you need. My husband and I are pretty low-key people, and we really wanted a venue that was full-service (way less coordinating and planning needed on our end). We found exactly what we wanted in working with Moira. Her professionalism, enthusiasm, and follow-through led us to a completely smooth event --especially considering that our ceremony ended early and our guests all arrived at the Hamlin for the reception almost 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Moira just welcomed everyone in and got the bar opened right away! She also had us come view the place several times throughout our planning process -- we got to see several other weddings being set up, which really helped in visualizing our own.The other Elaine Bell Catering is the only option for your food and beverage service. Luckily for us, EBC makes some seriously scrumptious food. And the lower-priced bar package still has amazing selection (Makers Mark!). Also, Moira and EBC helped us coordinate a specialty drink we wanted served, which was a huge hit. If you want an event space that has killer ambiance, a dedicated in-house event coordinator, tasty (and local/organic) food, all for a fair price...the Hamlin is your place.

I held two events at Hamlin Mansion this year. One was a fundraiser for former SF Giant JT Snow's Snow Foundation, and the other was my wedding! There is no place like Hamlin Mansion. If you are looking for a venue that incapsulates the spirit of San Francisco, Hamlin is the place. With breathtaking views of San Francisco to the beautiful historic energy of the building's architecture, reasonable rental rates and amazing event coordinators Moira Gubbins and Parties, Parties, Parties and other staff members, I feel that Hamlin is the best option for an event in the City. And I should know- I plan events throughout SF, and I've seen pretty much all the places!

Nice wedding venue located in a nice SF neighborhood with great water views. It's actually a private school by day. Great multi-use of space.

So I finally heard back from Moira (the management team that runs the Hamlin Mansion). She was very nice to deal with on the phone and via email yet they still take quite sometime in returning either one of them. Perhaps that is what pushed me into selecting a different venue for our event.I do appreciate the fact that she tried to change my beginning bad experience into a more positive one.

My husband and I got married at the beautiful Hamlin in March, and we couldn't have asked for a more memorable wedding. The location, professional staff and high level of service exceeded our expectations. We were looking for a wedding venue that was unique to San Francisco since most of our guests were coming from out of town, and that was not your standard hotel ballroom. We also wanted a place where we could host both our ceremony and reception. The setup at the Hamlin allows guests to easily mingle and wonder around, rather than being stuck at a table all evening with 8 people you don't know or like.The Hamlin is a girl's school by day and an event venue on weekends. As you enter through the main doors, you walk into the grand foyer with original woodwork, beautiful lighting fixtures, a dramatic staircase (and a great entry for the bride!), and a large, gorgeous stain glass window and ceiling. This area is where a ceremony can be held and doubles as dance floor for later in the evening. Just past the foyer is a library and parlor with breathtaking views of Pacific Heights and the bay, which serves as a cocktail area. The dinning room is downstairs in a separate building, which is also the school cafeteria. On my first few visits to the Hamlin I was concerned with all the school like features of the venue - the library books, kids paintings in the hallways, the dinning room being in a cafeteria style room, etc. But my worries were put to ease when I visited the Hamlin on a day where they were setting up for another wedding. The staff does an AMAZING job hiding and covering up anything that resembles a school and making the mansion look absolutely beautiful. My biggest surprise was the transformation of the "cafeteria" into a lovely "dinning room". No one thought twice that it was a cafeteria!The venue also comes with an event planner, Moira. I could not have planned my wedding without Moira! Working with Moira made the planning process easy, stressless, and fun. She had great recommendations, was always accommodating to our needs and wants, and was very organized. Moira had a wonderful staff the day of the event. Everyone was very professional and really went out of the way to make our special day run smoothly and make sure the guests were enjoying themselves. The venue caterer, Elaine Bell, provided a tasty, gourmet meal to our liking.If I had to plan my wedding over again, the Hamlin Mansion would be my number one pick for a venue with its sweeping views, beautiful ambiance, and unique setting.

I attended the same Hamlin School wedding reception as joe a. and I came away with a very different impression. In the first place, the word "disaster" is way out of proportion to anything joe a. stated. In San Francisco "disaster" is a word that should be reserved for earthquakes. The wedding was early in the afternoon so the food was perhaps a little slow in coming, but when the meal arrived it was quite tasty and plentiful. The cake and desserts (including the cake) were terrific. There was an open bar with wines, beers, sodas, water, and eventually coffee served with the desserts. The view from the Hamlin School over the bay was spectacular--I kept thinking that if I were a student there I'd be quite distracted by the incredible panorama. While there were not enough chairs to accommodate everyone who might have wanted to sit, I actually enjoyed sitting on the steps overlooking the beautiful main hall/dance floor. I didn't hear anyone complaining about the steps. I never saw any dirty dishes on the wedding cake table and if a guest put them there that it is a reflection on him or her, not on the caterer. In fact, I found the caterers pleasant, and helpful, and they were quick to remove used dishes. I also found the band quite talented, the music uplifting, and many of the guests seemed to enjoy themselves as they danced. Most importantly, the music was not so obnoxiously loud as to make conversation impossible, my biggest complaint about other receptions I have attended. There was also plenty of lively conversation in the side rooms. In addition, when I began to feel quite full from all the good food, I took a walk up the street, which is also quite attractive at night. All in all, I was grateful to be in San Francisco for this event and the wedding that occasioned it. I thought the Hamlin School venue was a wise and appropriate choice, given that the bride attended school there a few years back. I stayed till the very end and I appreciate being included.