Alma de Bretteville Spreckels
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Alma de Bretteville Spreckels was a wealthy socialite and philanthropist in San Francisco, California. She was known both as "Big Alma" and "The Great Grandmother of San Francisco". Among her many accomplishments, she persuaded her first husband, sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels, to donate the California Palace of the Legion of Honor to the city of San Francisco.
Alma de Bretteville Spreckels painted in 1924 by artist Richard Hall. In the painting, Spreckels sits in a chair originally designed (and at least partly created) by Queen Marie of Romania as an audience chair for herself. Spreckels obtained the chair in 1922 for an exhibition at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor; she eventually donated both the chair and the painting to the Maryhill Museum of Art, which she played a major role in founding.
Goddess of Victory atop the Dewey Monument. Legend holds that Aitken hired Alma de Bretteville Spreckels to model for the statue, but Aitken's model was Clara Petzold.
The Adolph B. and Alma de Bretteville Spreckels Gallery at the Legion of Honor showcasing sculptures of Auguste Rodin
Adolph B. Spreckels
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Adolph Bernard Spreckels was a California businessman who ran Spreckels Sugar Company and who donated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the city of San Francisco in 1924. His wife, Alma, was called the "great grandmother of San Francisco". His 1912 mansion is in Pacific Heights and is San Francisco Landmark #197.
Adolph B. Spreckels
The Spreckels Mansion in San Francisco