Estate, baths, and home
Sutro's wealth was increased by large real estate investments in San Francisco, where he became an entrepreneur and public figure after returning from the Comstock in 1879. These land investments included Mount Sutro, Land's End (the area where Lincoln Park and the Cliff House are today), and Mount Davidson, which was called "Blue Mountain" at the time.
Sutro invested most of his $900,000 savings on land acquisitions in San Francisco, eventually owning 1/12 of the city: "I took my money and invested in real estate…when everyone was scared and thought the city was going to the dogs. I bought every acre I could lay my hands on until I had 2,200 acres in this city." His largest acquisition was the entire northwestern portion of Rancho San Miguel, which he covered with eucalyptus trees over the years: "The people of the Pacific Coast…will wander through the majestic groves rising from the trees we are now planting, reverencing the memory of those whose foresight clothed the earth with emerald robes and made nature beautiful to look upon." Planting only eucalyptus trees became a controversial issue, as the plant smothered other endemic species and fires rapidly spread. Other lands were rented to the big Italian families that developed large agriculture operations and provided the Colombo Market with daily fresh picks.
Sutro opened his own estate to the public and was heralded as a populist for various astute acts of public generosity, such as opening an aquarium and a glass-enclosed entertainment complex called Sutro Baths in the Sutro District. Though the Baths were not opened until 1896, Sutro had been developing and marketing the project for years, attempting four separate times to insulate the site from waves using sea walls, the first three of which collapsed into the Pacific Ocean.
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, which included six of the largest indoor swimming pools north of the restaurant that included a museum, ice skating rink and other pleasure grounds. Great throngs of San Franciscans arrived on steam trains, bicycles, carts and horse wagons on Sunday excursions.
In 1894, Sutro, in preparation for the opening of the Cliff House, bought a large part of the collection of Woodward's Gardens, a combination zoo, amusement park, aquarium, and art gallery which had closed in 1891.
The Baths were saltwater and springwater pools, heated to varying degrees, and surrounded by a concert hall and museums stocked with treasures that Sutro had collected in his travels and from Woodward's Gardens. The baths became very popular despite their remote location, across the open dunes to the west of the populated areas of the city. This popularity was partly due to the low entry fee for visiting the Baths and riding the excursion railroad he built to reach them.
Sutro managed a great increase in the value of his outlying land investments as a direct result of the development burst that his vacationers' railroad spawned. He also increased the value of his lands by planting his property at Mount Sutro with saplings of fast-growing eucalyptus. This occurred at the same time as city Supervisors granted tax-free status to "forested" lands within city limits. Small fragments of the forest still exist. The largest is at Mount Sutro, where 61 acres (25 ha) are the property of the University of California, San Francisco, and another 19 are property of the City of San Francisco.
At his death in 1898, his properties in San Francisco were valued at $3 million.
