| Ehrman Mansion is a two story Queen | | | | The house was fairly modern as it featured |
| Anne-styled summerhouse and is considered to | | | | technology that wasn't openly available to |
| be one of the most luxurious estates in Lake | | | | everyone, most certainly not the poor. These |
| Tahoe. It certainly isn't like the numerous Lake | | | | included things like electric lights and complete |
| Tahoe vacation rentals that you see people flock | | | | indoor plumbing, and there were steam |
| to, this building is just another grand example of | | | | generators that produced electricity for the |
| how prestigious Lake Tahoe is. | | | | estate, which showed the extent of their wealth |
| It was the summer home of the Hellman-Ehrman | | | | as commercially powered electricity wasn't |
| family, who used their wealth to build it as a way | | | | available until 1927. Water was roughly the same |
| to take advantage of their wealth to produce an | | | | as they had to use a ditch and flume system to |
| estate that sets standards for the Western | | | | run from General Creek to a storage tower near |
| Shore, and to give it a touch of class. | | | | the main house, which distributed it to the |
| It was in 1897 that I. W. Hellman purchased | | | | separate individual buildings. |
| property at Sugar Pine Point and by 1913 he had | | | | There were many building structures on the |
| acquired almost 2000 acres of land. It was here | | | | grounds, other than the main building there was a |
| where he decided to build his summer home and | | | | caretaker's cottage by the lake, a children's house |
| called it Pine Lodge. This was completed in 1903, | | | | that was by the tennis court, a maids' quarters, a |
| this was considered to be one of the best in the | | | | butlers' house, an ice house, a coach house, a |
| area. It was his daughter who had inherited the | | | | tank house and two boat houses which were |
| estate, Florence Hellman Ehrman and her husband | | | | home to two boats called the Jacqueline and the |
| Sydney truly used it as a summer home as she | | | | Cherokee. The estate was also capable of |
| and her family and friends would go there almost | | | | gathering its own food in the form of vegetables |
| every summer. | | | | as it had a patch of land that had a dedicated |
| Huge amounts of topsoil had to be brought in to | | | | dairy and vegetable garden. |
| stabilize the ground when construction started, | | | | The 1,975 acre estate was acquired by the |
| this was because the main house building was built | | | | California State Park system and they turned the |
| on a sandy hillside. Granite was also brought in | | | | it into a house museum. During the summer |
| from nearby Meeks Bay and was used to form | | | | months visitors can tour the mansion where they |
| the foundation of the house, whilst timber was | | | | get to see the how they kept the glamorous |
| used to become the roof supports. Most of the | | | | building in pristine condition to show the qualities of |
| other materials had to be transported via a | | | | a grand home that has been around since the |
| streamer as this was the only way to get the | | | | beginning of the last century. |
| materials to the summer home. | | | | |