This is quintessential Oakland art! I brought my wife here. She is originally from Oakland, Illinois. She was not really in the mood for the usual art museums with paintings or modern abstract art pieces. Safe to say she was not impressed.

Im a huge Phantasm and James Bond fan, so visiting Dunsmuir was a no brainer. Being able to wander the grounds by oneself allowed for many interesting things to see without a tour guide. I only included a few pictures, but swimming pool area, and water grotto evidence the opulence of the gilded age.

Gorgeous historic home and grounds open for tours. The house was built by Alexander Dunsmuir for his bride in 1899. The house was decorated beautifully for the holiday season and also had lots of holiday photo opportunities outside for children, as well as two bouncy houses. There was a high tea event available, tickets available online and had sold out by our arrival. Friendly and helpful staff were plentiful. Parking was $15. Disability Information: Disabled parking available on request, with drop off and shuttle available to the house. The lovely walk through the grounds is on a paved but slightly bumpy narrow road that gently ascends to the house, which sits on a small rise. The road is perhaps 1/8th mile long. There is a ramp to the back door, but tours enter through the front and people are carefully routed in one direction only. Some stair climbing is necessary to see the house; I did not see any elevator or disabled access to the second floor. The restrooms are nearby in another building, but require either ascending a fairly long stair up the hill or using the slightly steep ramp walkway tucked around the back. Printed information throughout the house offered no Braille. The movement of foot traffic through the house moved at a fairly good pace, but if one wishes to move at a more leisurely pace most of the time there is room to allow others to pass. A lovely place to visit and we all very much enjoyed it!

Great day out at the Dads & Jazz Concert!! Dunsmiur is a beautiful estate!

This review is for the Dunsmuir House at the Dunsmuir Hellman Historic Estate. The mansion captures the charm of a bygone era. The tours during the Christmas holidays are special events. Each room is decorated with a different theme. It is the closest to a Downton Abbey experience in the SF Bay Area. The City of Oakland operates the mansion and needs to allocate more funds for its upkeep as some portions of the house need to be better maintained.

Amazing place to visit. Its a great place to relax and enjoy the nice weather. I visited this location as a James Bond fans. This estate featured in A View To A Kill with Roger Moore. So its a historical place in multiple ways.

Did the tea at Christmas what a treat then toured the house, the time and effort put in was amazing

Went here for the annual Great Gatsby Picnic and had a blast. I took off one star more so for the ppl then the actual location.

Beautiful grounds for a special event. Definitely a piece of early 20th century history plopped down in the Oakland Hills.

Nice place to visit! I was there for the Gatsby afternoon picnic and thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance of this place! Green, pretty, airy...didnt seem like I was near any City.

Annual Gatsby picnic at this mansion is a blast. Time machine into almost a century ago. The house is open for a tour during the picnic. Too bad other premises are looking neglected, such as the pool. It was once a majestic estate.

Really beautiful estate but what a shame nobody cares to fix it up. Paint is peeling, walls cracked, swimming pool overgrown, the indoor decoration is shoddy at best and the grounds are a pale comparison to what they were back in the day I am sure of. Not sure who decided on the interior but it is just sad and I doubt it looks anything like what it was. At one little square on the wall upstairs they left the original paint: why the h** did they even paint over it with the sorriest eggshell paint known to mankind in the first place? Bah not impressed; just sad.

This is 1 of Oaklands hidden treasures. Great quiet place to think, clear your head. Great for weddings so I hear

Visited during the Gatsby summer picnic and enjoyed it a lot. Worth a trip if you enjoy old restored houses.

Great place to have events beautiful scenery and very spacious

Wow!! Beautiful Wedding reception center!! Security is trash...very poor people skills!

Beautiful park setting with a 1.5 mile round trip path. Great for a quick walk.

Great locale, miss when they had high tea years ago

VERY Beautiful grounds and great place for family fun and activities.

We, as members of the Art Deco Society of California, have one of our annual events, the Gatsby Summer Picnic, there. The estate is wonderful! They let us tour the house while were there. Its beautiful! Oh. For those of you that may not be James Bond affictionados: the Dunsmuir Estate played a part in the 1985 movie A View to a Kill!

One of the best times to visit is during the annual Gatsby Celebration. Once you step onto the grounds, youre in a completely different era. The mansion is gorgeous, with a linen closet to die for! I highly recommend it!

Nice walking area. Wild turkeys, deer, lizards. Well maintained.

The grounds are a good place to walk, open 10 - 4, Tues - Fri. Green. Quiet.

The worst Easter egg hunting I ever knew....most parents complained that was so ridiculous this year....kids had to be under the blazing sun for quite a long time, they got frustrated, and cried. Although the pic backdrop looks so nice, but wont go next year.

Wonderful afternoon with my best buddy Anna Louise at Dunsmuir Hellman mansion in Oakland. The mansion and the grounds decorated beautifully and the holiday music definitely makes one feel festive and ready for the holiday.

The Dunsmuir house and grounds make you feel like youre in bygone days. A very special place indeed. The Christmas decor was lovely. It was sad to notice that the city of Oakland is spending as little as possible on the property as it needs repair and maintenance. The staff were helpful and friendly. It was worth the visit and Id return.

I walk or run here three days a week minimum. The gardens are week maintained and the staff is very friendly. You can see deer, turkeys, rabbits, and birds of prey. I miss my ducks though. They used to follow me around. I loved those guys. They recently changed their hours. Im not sure when the house is open for tours at the moment. During the holidays they have events that are great for the family. I really recommend visiting this hidden gem of Oakland.

I love the grounds... Be nice if they fixed the pool and grotto.

Mansion with lovely winter holiday decorations

Beautiful historic mansion on gorgeous estate hidden in hills of East Oakland. Best to go Easter Egg Hunting or on winter Holiday tour.

Very nice place to check out. Great to look at the construction of the time. Enjoyed it.

Very calm and quiet place to getaway from the city. I also visited it during the Gatsby 32nd event. It was wonderful. There was no problem with parking.

We just went to the Easter event at Dunsmuir, and it was fabulous. At only $5 per adult, we got an egg hunt, egg roll and pictures with the Easter bunny. On top of all of the activities we got to explore the grounds and mansion, all of which are gorgeous. All this and we got to support our city which owns and runs the house as a city park.

Great place, historical

Loved location for weddings, but need shuttle service, no handicap service

Not much to do, but good for a budget event

Love the yearly event Gatsby picnic

This venue is overrated and the kitchen facilities need attention they would do well to close about two weeks and give the entire place a proper cleaning.

Tucked away on the hillside. Historic 19th & 20th century families who built and made it their home. Docent tour is worth signing up for.

We went for the Easter event. There werent many things for my 2 year old to do although we saw many families that came with full picnics and their own games. They didnt have much food and the mansion itself is looking a little run down.The egg hunt was pretty crazy. The toddler time slot was at 12pm so it was lunch/nap meltdown time. We also had to queue up for quite some time so lots of the little ones were getting pretty frustrated. I did get some amazing photos of my son in a field of flowers while he checked out the eggs he got. That was probably my favorite part of the day.

For Easter event, just give you three eggs for you at door and you go put them down for your kids to pick...... if you thinking of pick egg is your main event. Dont show up

This is a very nice place to have a weddings.

This is a great place to gather for any type of function, especially any outdoor type gathering.

Beautiful location for an event. Was not aware of it until last week.

Very beautiful area

Too much money for so little things to do. Pay for parking, entrees and everything else.

My grandsons graduation was on tbe lawn

Fountain in front of pool, and pool house

My orchestra has to perform there today

Fun annual easter egg hunt

Absolutely stunning house and grounds.

A beautiful location in the city!

Absolutely gorgeous!

A good place to tour

Bad

Beautiful home to admire at.