Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Coronado’s Spreckels Mansion: a national controversy for Rebecca Zahau and Max Shacknai

The deaths were respectively ruled an accident and a suicide

But really, what great house worth its salt doesn’t boast a mysterious death or two?
But really, what great house worth its salt doesn’t boast a mysterious death or two?

By the late 1890s, John Spreckels had become well-established as one of San Diego’s most powerful men. He’d acquired control of the Coronado Beach Company, the Hotel Del Coronado, and the San Diego streetcar system, converting its carriages from horse-drawn to electrified. Spreckels bought the Union daily paper, and would go on to control the Tribune, its main competitor, along with the Coronado peninsula in its entirety by the early 1900s.

It wasn’t until a massive earthquake struck his adopted hometown of San Francisco in 1906, however, that he decided to relocate his family to San Diego, the city in which he’d amassed much of his wealth.

Setting aside three of his most coveted oceanfront lots in Coronado spanning nearly a half-acre, Spreckels commissioned the famed architect Harrison Albright to design him a home at 1043 Ocean Boulevard.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Perhaps owing to residual fear from the San Francisco quake, the Spreckels manor was designed using steel-reinforced concrete construction, at the time an unusual and unusually stout choice for a single-family home. The original home was completed in 1908, with four bedrooms, six baths, and approximately 6600 square feet of living space that, per listing materials, served as “the center of entertaining for San Diego’s high society.”

A man of vision likes a panoramic view.

Spreckels later moved into a larger mansion on the other side of Coronado, and he gave the Ocean Boulevard home to his son Claus and daughter-in-law Ellis as a wedding present in 1910. Claus would later hire Richard Requa, the master architect behind the Balboa Park expansions for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition, to build a 3000-square-foot guest house. Ellis continued living in the family home until her death in 1967.

Later additions to the property included a pool and spa located in a private courtyard, along with two guest or servant apartments above the four-car garage and private gym. The estate currently offers a total of 10 bedrooms, 11 baths, and 10,500 square feet of living space, plus a 1000-square-foot basement. Recent years saw the entire property receive a multi-million-dollar remodel, with updates to the home’s features and technology that did not interfere with the century-old architecture and design.

The Spreckels Mansion was the site of a national controversy in 2007 when Max Shacknai, the six-year-old son of pharmaceutical executive and then-owner Jonah Shacknai, died falling from a staircase bannister. Days later, the body of the elder Shacknai’s girlfriend Rebecca Zahau was found naked and hanging from a balcony. The deaths were respectively ruled an accident and a suicide, but earlier this year, Shacknai’s brother Adam reached a settlement with the Zahau family after being found guilty in a civil wrongful death case that awarded the family $5 million.

Shacknai sold the home in 2011 for a reported $9 million. The buyer was a Utah-based limited liability corporation established to shield the identity of the current owner.

The property has since been listed for sale multiple times — almost immediately after the off-market sale a public listing went up, asking $14.5 million. By mid-2012, the asking price had risen to $15.5 million; in early 2013m the price rose again to $16.9 million as the owner invested in modernization and improvements. The Spreckels property has been on- and off-market a total of six times in recent years, with the price ranging from a low of $12.9 million to a high of $17.9 million. The most recent listing, which went active in April, prices the property at $16.9 million.

  • 1043 Ocean Boulevard | Coronado, 92118
  • Beds: 10 | Baths: 11 | Current Owner: 1043 Ocean Blvd LLC (Utah) | List PRice: $16,900,000
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Barrio Food Hub's brave new world

Incredible technology, but not really a social destination
Next Article

Barrio Food Hub's brave new world

Incredible technology, but not really a social destination
But really, what great house worth its salt doesn’t boast a mysterious death or two?
But really, what great house worth its salt doesn’t boast a mysterious death or two?

By the late 1890s, John Spreckels had become well-established as one of San Diego’s most powerful men. He’d acquired control of the Coronado Beach Company, the Hotel Del Coronado, and the San Diego streetcar system, converting its carriages from horse-drawn to electrified. Spreckels bought the Union daily paper, and would go on to control the Tribune, its main competitor, along with the Coronado peninsula in its entirety by the early 1900s.

It wasn’t until a massive earthquake struck his adopted hometown of San Francisco in 1906, however, that he decided to relocate his family to San Diego, the city in which he’d amassed much of his wealth.

Setting aside three of his most coveted oceanfront lots in Coronado spanning nearly a half-acre, Spreckels commissioned the famed architect Harrison Albright to design him a home at 1043 Ocean Boulevard.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Perhaps owing to residual fear from the San Francisco quake, the Spreckels manor was designed using steel-reinforced concrete construction, at the time an unusual and unusually stout choice for a single-family home. The original home was completed in 1908, with four bedrooms, six baths, and approximately 6600 square feet of living space that, per listing materials, served as “the center of entertaining for San Diego’s high society.”

A man of vision likes a panoramic view.

Spreckels later moved into a larger mansion on the other side of Coronado, and he gave the Ocean Boulevard home to his son Claus and daughter-in-law Ellis as a wedding present in 1910. Claus would later hire Richard Requa, the master architect behind the Balboa Park expansions for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition, to build a 3000-square-foot guest house. Ellis continued living in the family home until her death in 1967.

Later additions to the property included a pool and spa located in a private courtyard, along with two guest or servant apartments above the four-car garage and private gym. The estate currently offers a total of 10 bedrooms, 11 baths, and 10,500 square feet of living space, plus a 1000-square-foot basement. Recent years saw the entire property receive a multi-million-dollar remodel, with updates to the home’s features and technology that did not interfere with the century-old architecture and design.

The Spreckels Mansion was the site of a national controversy in 2007 when Max Shacknai, the six-year-old son of pharmaceutical executive and then-owner Jonah Shacknai, died falling from a staircase bannister. Days later, the body of the elder Shacknai’s girlfriend Rebecca Zahau was found naked and hanging from a balcony. The deaths were respectively ruled an accident and a suicide, but earlier this year, Shacknai’s brother Adam reached a settlement with the Zahau family after being found guilty in a civil wrongful death case that awarded the family $5 million.

Shacknai sold the home in 2011 for a reported $9 million. The buyer was a Utah-based limited liability corporation established to shield the identity of the current owner.

The property has since been listed for sale multiple times — almost immediately after the off-market sale a public listing went up, asking $14.5 million. By mid-2012, the asking price had risen to $15.5 million; in early 2013m the price rose again to $16.9 million as the owner invested in modernization and improvements. The Spreckels property has been on- and off-market a total of six times in recent years, with the price ranging from a low of $12.9 million to a high of $17.9 million. The most recent listing, which went active in April, prices the property at $16.9 million.

  • 1043 Ocean Boulevard | Coronado, 92118
  • Beds: 10 | Baths: 11 | Current Owner: 1043 Ocean Blvd LLC (Utah) | List PRice: $16,900,000
Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
Next Article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
Oct. 17, 2019
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
Oct. 17, 2019
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.