San Francisco’s Wealth Of Architectural Detail
If you happen to be an architecture buff or just love architectural history, then San Francisco is certainly a must visit kind of place. I’ll admit I lived in San Francisco for a few years, but never quite realized the richness of design and detail seen with so many of the historic buildings. It also may be that Market street, the home to many historic buildings was either to seedy to venture on, or too crowded to allow pausing to take a look. On our visit the downtown looked like a Sunday (empty) on a weekday due to the Pandemic, and that may have allowed me to take that closer look that didn’t previously happen? I was always a big fan of the many Victorian houses, having grown up with some across the Bay, but I think since then so many more have been restored and make such a grander statement than they once did. Maybe it took riding atop a hop-on hop-off bus and seeing things at a higher level, though more likely my love for architecture blossomed after I left San Francisco? So friends, I could not resist capturing some the details I saw, to share with you, and while the photo above is a Victorian style facade, that era will be shared in a different post, for now we’re looking at buildings mostly built around 1920-1920, enjoy!
Above: Orpheum Theater facade, WOW!
The Orpheum Theater, originally the Pantages Theatre, is located at 1192 Market at Hyde, Grove and 8th Streets in the Civic Center district of San Francisco, California. The theatre first opened in 1926 as one of the many designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca for theater-circuit owner Alexander Pantages. The interior features a vaulted ceiling, while the facade is a Plateresque (Late Spanish Gothic) Revival. The Orpheum seats 2,197 patrons. In 1998, after a previous renovation in the 1970s, a $20 million renovation was completed to make the Orpheum more suitable for Broadway shows. The theater is a locally designated San Francisco landmark as determined by the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board.
Above: Orpheum Theater facade
Above: Orpheum Theater facade
Above: The Matson Building
The sixteen story Matson Building, at 215 Market Street was designed by Bliss & Faville and built between 1922 and 1924, is one of a series of Chicago School skyscrapers built during the 1910s and 1920s which give San Francisco its downtown character. The Matson Building pairs admirably with the adjacent Pacific Gas and Electric General Office Building, and is a very fine example of the tall office building designed as a column. The arcaded, four-story capital is rich in omamemtation, contrasting with the quietly rusticated nine central stories of shaft. The rich four-story base repeats the proportions of the top with three-story columns and a fourth intermediary story interrupted by the central entry arch.
The fine terra cotta detailing is typical of Bliss and Faville. They sheathed the main elevations in a cream colored terra cotta with a somewhat reflective sheen. A second color, turquoise blue-green, was used on certain blocks to provide a background tone or to emphasize relief. They designed custom ornamental details to symbolize the building’s owner and chief occupant, the Matson Navigation Company, a leading freight and passenger carrier between the West Coast and Hawaii.The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1995.
Above: The Matson Building
Above: The Matson Building
Above: The Matson Building
Above: Unique Beaux Arts apartment building.
Above: The De Young Building
The De Young Building, with its sandstone and brick facade, sits on the corner of Kearny and Market was completed in 1890, when the building then housed The Chronicle and opened as the tallest tower on the West Coast at 11 stories. You’d never guess that for 40 years the walls were hidden behind drab metal panels with a pseudo-modern look. Yikes!
The masonry facade is virtually all that’s left of the original, designed by Chicago firm Burnham and Root for Chronicle publisher M. H. de Young. The client wanted an edifice that would outshine his rivals; Burnham and Root delivered the goods with a fortress-like temple of commerce, the walls so hefty they seem as though they were carved from a cliff. Unfortunately, the interior was gutted long ago and the facade was covered by a skin of metal in 1962, when the owner at the time tried to make it more attractive to potential tenants. Fortunately that “modern” facade was removed to reveal the original, though now the red bricks conceal something much different from a newspaper plant: Behind and above them sit the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, a 24-story stack of condominiums and time shares.
Above: The Southern Pacific Building facade
The Southern Pacific Building is one of three office buildings comprising One Market Plaza along the Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. The historic 11-story, 65-metre (213 ft) building, also known as “The Landmark”, was started in 1916 and completed in 1917. When completed, One Market Street was hailed as the tallest steel-framed structure west of the Mississippi.
Above: Amazing brick masonry
Above: Stunning wooden details on a Victorian style apartment building.
Okay friends, that is it for my round up of architectural details, stay tuned for a look at San Francisco’s Victorian architectural gems!
