From Marilyn Blaisdell's book

San Francisciana
Photographs of the Cliff House

John Hall, creator of the 3D model gives his analysis of the above photo as follows...

It was taken on the third floor porch, south side, outside the main dining room. The window on the left side of the jpg was covered for the photograph to keep the direct sun out of the camera. The window just to the right of the covered one was not covered and is the bright spot over the 'secret service men'. The bright window is facing west.
 

Although the above image is on page 31 of Marilyn's book, it likely belongs a few pages earlier chronologically as it is more likely a photo of the earlier structure.
 

John Hall gives solid evidence as to why the above photo is NOT of the 1896 structure...

I am 99.999% positive that the photo is not the 1896 Cliff House.  Here is my reasoning including photos and diagrams.

There are a couple of things in the photo that demonstrate my point. The light shining through the windows is at such an angle that the windows must be along an outside wall. See photo 1. The 1896 Cliff House "Porch" would not allow direct sunlight intrusion to the room except on the west wall with the sun at a very low angle. In addition, count the windows from the sunlight on the floor. There are 3 pairs of windows along the wall. This matches with the paired windows along the south side of the Second Cliff House. See photo 2. Next look at the woodwork in the room. The style of the wood work looks earlier than 1896 to me. The interior doors do not have the same style as the doors on the 1986 Cliff House plans. The final point is the room itself with the placement of doors, windows, and fireplace. See photo 3 of the chimney placement in the Second Cliff House. This room doesn't match any room in the floor plans of the 1896 Cliff House. The closest room to this was the third floor (street level) bar room where the fireplace and windows were on the same wall. There are other minor things that suggest an earlier date. These include the elaborate ceiling painting, and kerosene chandeliers both out of date by 1896.

John