Fascinated by the history of this museum and the person and family that lived there. Easy access and close to downtown Oakland. A must see if youre visiting

TL; DR: Great place to experience a tea party (by group reservation only). Interesting Victorian home museum in which to learn about local history, including that Id the first fulltime CA governor. House is chilly in cold months so wear layers, but the dinning room has a space heater during tea. Dont forget to bring cash for the donation box, itd be appreciated :)---I visited here with a group for tea service. The entire thing from the set up, baking, and serving was beautifully orchestrated by friendly museum volunteers who delighted us with a lovely spread of tasty tea and baked goods in the historic homes dinning room.Tea parties are the home museums main source of income and a great place to celebrate special occasions or just have an outing with a group of friends. The service is hosted by reservation for groups only. Theres a minimum number of attendees required. In the winter the max number of tea guests per party is limited to 12 (the size of the dinning room table). In warm weather, the max is closer to 40 people and its hosted in the patio. Check their website for info.Our visit was concluded with a docent led tour of the house covering the story of the 3 generations of Pardees who lived there. The family was influential in politics, and was also active in medicine. The house is filled with thousands of family artifacts and collections, including some artwork by the talented Mrs. Pardee. Theres definitely plenty to see and learn here.For the sake of time, our tour didnt include a view of the room with old toys and human specimens (remember that least one Pardee was a physician). If youre curious, you could request a view from the docent. I actually was not aware of this room at all until a fellow tour goer asked about it.

The volunteers at Pardee Home put such care into providing a wonderfully indulgent experience. Delicious tea with beautiful touches such as fresh flowers and good variety of tastefully decorated dishes. They even surprised me with a lovingly prepared birthday cake! Loved the interesting tour of a historical home.

Beautiful home, lovely tour. High tea was delicious. Great experience for a party of 12

Beautiful home and maintains a piece of Oaklands history for the next generation of oaklanders

Beautiful, meticulously maintained historical home. Lots of knowledgeable volunteers. Superior teas. Frequent, interesting tours.

Went to a wedding, beautiful groundsq

Nice historical landmark

Lovely docent and volunteers, and beautiful house and grounds. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and I learned a lot about the history of Oakland and the bay area. They served us a wonderful high tea!

Creepy & Fun!We went here for an afternoon tea party & tour of the house. Apparently the two Pardee sisters were hoarders because the place is packed with stuff. More stuff then you could possible take in the first time you looked.The volunteers who hosted the afternoon tea were amazing and they made great food. We were all stuffed by the time tea was over & they still had more for us to taste. Everyone took home a nice goodies bag of treats.I swear this place is haunted!

It was great getting a tour of the place and learning the history of the Pardee family.

I love this place, but I am also a volunteer here (nonpaid), so maybe my post doesnt count.

The tour of the house and the tea were great.

Differ dude Museum it is a great example of like it used to be architecture remember these are in original homes with they are like homes and youll get a great sense of feeling for one of our earliest governors

A ton of California history and collections at the Pardee Home Museum! The tea was phenomenal, the volunteers do an amazing job!

Great experience

Service no good

Nice