<P> In 1896, Adolph Sutro built a new Cliff House, a seven - story Victorian Chateau, called by some "the Gingerbread Palace", below his estate on the bluffs of Sutro Heights . This was the same year work began on the famous Sutro Baths in a small cove immediately north of the Restaurant . The baths included six of the largest indoor swimming pools, a museum, a skating rink and other pleasure grounds . Great throngs of San Franciscans arrived on steam trains, bicycles, carts and horse wagons on Sunday excursions . Sutro purchased some of the collection of stuffed animals, artwork, and historic items from Woodward's Gardens to display at both the Cliff House and Sutro Baths . </P> <P> The 1896 Cliff House survived the 1906 earthquake with little damage, but burned to the ground on the evening of September 7, 1907, after existing for only 11 years . Dr. Emma Merritt, Sutro's daughter, commissioned a rebuilding of the restaurant in a neo-classical style that was completed within two years and is the basis of the structure seen today . In 1914, the guidebook Bohemian San Francsco described it as "one of the great Bohemian restaurants of San Francisco...while you have thought you had good breakfasts before this, you know that now you are having the best of them all ." </P> <P> In 1937, George and Leo Whitney purchased the Cliff House, to complement their Playland - at - the - Beach attraction nearby, and extensively remodelled it into an American roadhouse . From 1955 until 1961, a sky tram operated across the Sutro Baths basin, taking up to 25 visitors at a time from Point Lobos, enhanced by an artificial waterfall, to the outer balcony of the Cliff House . </P> <P> In the 1960s, upon the closing of Playland, the Musée Mécanique, a museum of 20th - century penny arcade games, was moved into the basement of the Cliff House . The building was acquired by the National Park Service in 1977 and became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area . </P>

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