San Francisco Architecture

When most people think architecture in San Francisco, they picture the Painted Ladies. Those seven, sweet, perfectly pastel gingerbread homes lining the eastern side of Alamo Square commonly portray the city’s architectural style, but San Francisco embodies much more than Victorian design.

Not only is San Francisco’s rich history revealed in its buildings, streets and public squares, but the city is home to some of the best modern architecture in the country.

Buildings of the early 19th century were designed in the classical Beaux Arts style, emphasizing Roman architecture, Italian Renaissance, and Greek models. City Hall is an example of this style. The building totals more than 500,000 square feet and occupies two full blocks of Van Ness and Polk streets at McAllister and Grove streets. Its dome, which owes much to Mansart's Baroque dome of Les Invalides, Paris, is the fifth largest dome in the world, rising 307 feet above the Civic Center Historic District—14 inches higher than the United States Capitol.

The 1906 earthquake ignited a fire that ravaged 90 percent of buildings in a 10-block radius. In rebuilding the city, Beaux Arts gave way to a radical departure from European influence—Art Deco. Representing real American style, Art Deco was seen as elegant, functional and modern. The Pacific Telephone Building, at 140 New Montgomery St., in SoMa, was the city’s first skyscraper and the grandest Art Deco tower. It was the tallest building on the West Coast when it opened in 1925 as the headquarters of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph. Black marble walls, an elaborately stenciled ceiling and bronze elevator doors exemplify the Art Deco style.

After the Great Depression hit in 1929, design turned to International style, with the focus on Modernism. Three principles applied: the expression of volume rather than mass, balance rather than preconceived symmetry and the expulsion of applied ornament.

The first building to be built after World War II, The Crown Zellerbach Paper Company Building at 1 Bush St., exemplifies this trend, as its design focuses on function rather than ornamental styles. Built in 1959, it is known as the second most important building in San Francisco because it is the city’s first glass building.

Here are a few other San Francisco buildings to note, worthy of a trip for the picture they paint of the city:

Hallidie Building
This registered state landmark, is known as the single most important historical building in San Francisco—and not because it’s named after Andrew Hallidie, who invented the city’s famed cable cars, but because it represents one of the great revolutions in architectural design with its “glass curtain.” Commissioned by UC Berkeley, designed by architect Willis Polk and built in 1917, the Hallidie Building was the first in the world to use a steel frame to support a transparent, glass wall. At the time, construction was so revolutionary that bleachers were erected across the street so people could watch the construction process. 130 Sutter St. between Kearny and Montgomery streets.

Sam Spade Building
Property management had trouble leasing space in this 1926 building at 111 Sutter St. until a famous author incorporated the building into one of his books. Dashiell Hammett placed detective Sam Spade on the 6th floor of the building in his novel, The Maltese Falcon. This building's lobby is the most historic in the city. Crafted in Italian marble, the lobby shows influences of Moroccan, Arabic, Medieval and French design. A deep divot in the marble floor marks where elevator attendants stood from 1927 to 1978. 111 Sutter St. at Montgomery Street.

The Skinny Building
The city's skinniest building resides at 130 Bush St. At just 20 feet wide, 10 stories tall and 80 feet deep, this building is sandwiched between its adjacent structures. Constructed in 1910, this building was built so skinny because of the business it housed—a garment manufacturing plant, which made “skinny” accessories: belts, neckties and suspenders. Offices replaced the garment company in 1929, and this historic building has since gone bankrupt and fallen into disrepair. 130 Bush St. at Battery Street.

San Francisco’s historic buildings prove to be just as impressive as its modern architecture. Technology and green building have had an enormous impact on the city’s design, turning out groundbreaking and exemplary architecture, to wit:

California Academy of Sciences
Reopened in Golden Gate Park last month, this building features sustainable design that blends architecture with the park's natural setting. The innovative construction has already gained international recognition as a cultural icon. It took 10 years to unify the academy's 12 buildings into one notable structure, but now, under one living roof (a roof covered in turf, flowers, grasses and shrubs), the new academy contains a planetarium, aquarium, and natural history museum. It hopes to earn the highest rating—platinum—for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LED). 55 Music Concourse Dr. in Golden Gate Park.

One Rincon Hill
The tallest building in the city, One Rincon Hill South Tower, is another example of the city’s new and impressive architecture. The all-residential skyscraper, under construction in San Francisco’s SoMa district, is one of the most significant additions to the San Francisco skyline in more than 30 years. At 605 feet tall (taller than the Washington Monument), One Rincon Hill is one of the tallest residential towers west of the Mississippi River. The 60-floor building features a 50,000-gallon water tank on its roof to balance it in high winds and earthquakes.

One Rincon Hill exemplifies the latest and greatest in San Francisco’s architectural design, but it takes inspiration from the city’s buildings of the past—its glass curtain is an architectural element born right here in San Francisco 91 years ago by Willis Polk, who designed the Hallidie Building. 425 First St. at Harrison Street.

To learn more, take Rick Evans' Architecture Walking Tour. Tours leave daily at 11 am or 3 pm from the lobby of the Galleria Park Hotel at 191 Sutter St. Cost is $20. 415.264.8824, www.architecturesf.com.