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San Francisco's Iconic Buildings

19K views 31 replies 8 participants last post by  Cal_Escapee 
#1 · (Edited)
San Francisco's Most Iconic Buildings (Top 10)

1- Coit Tower

2- TransAmerica Pyramid

3- Palace of Fine Arts

4- Ferry Building

5- City Hall

6- 555 California St. (Fmr. B of A Hdqtrs.)

7- Palace of the Legion of Honor

8- AT&T Park

9- Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall

10- One Rincon Hill Tower
 
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#3 · (Edited)
10 buildings your S.F. visitors should see

There's more to San Francisco architecture than Victorian homes.

That's the theme in the reader responses to a question posed by yours truly: What buildings here would you point out to outsiders? In a city known more for districts than individual designs, what jewels deserve attention?

You promptly aimed more than 75 buildings my way. And while the results included postcard-ready favorites - I'm looking at you, Palace of Fine Arts - the range of styles and eras reflects architectural diversity not often associated with our city.

Much culling later, here's a starter tour of sorts: 10 stops within walking distance of each other, with BART stops close by at either end. There are buildings to be contemplated as pure works of architecture, and buildings that let us see how this city constantly reinvents itself.

Ferry Building, 1898 with extensive 2003 renovations, A. Page Brown. This one's a favorite, and not just for the glorified food court on the ground floor. "Of course, the Ferry Building was very important to me as a child," Doris Madden recalls. "We used to drive our car on the ferryboat and go to the East Bay for a picnic every year during the summer."

Hyatt Regency Hotel, 1973, John Portman, 5 Embarcadero Center. Full disclosure: I'm not big on this atrium-centered showcase that saw its glory days a generation ago. But its admirers include Tanu Sankalia, chair of the University of San Francisco's department of art and architecture. "The Hyatt is about spatial experience that is memorable and unique," she writes, singling out such details as "its continuous, cascading balconies" and "the slot-like skylight that washes the pre-cast concrete surfaces."

Palace Hotel, 1909, Trowbridge & Trowbridge, 2 Montgomery St. And now for something completely different, hotel-lobby-wise: this dowager's Garden Court with its marble columns and stained-glass dome. Mark Katzenberger calls it "glorious but not gaudy ... no place in San Francisco (better) expresses the grace of our gilded past."

JPMorgan Chase Building, Pelli Clarke Pelli, 2002, 560 Mission St. It's hard in words to convey the attention to details that sets apart this "retro green office tower," in the words of Charles Belov. In person, you understand.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1994, Mario Botta, 151 Third St. Museum officials didn't call Botta when they sought architects to design an equally large addition, but the Swiss modernist's "little gem" has fans such as Susan Schneider: "The interior horizontal finishes convey solidity and even perhaps tradition, while the peekaboo staircase with its dark-to-light aspect leading to the cylindrical steps from the fourth to fifth floor is nothing but fun."

Xanadu Gallery, 1949, Frank Lloyd Wright, 140 Maiden Lane. This one received as much love as the Ferry Building, especially from architecture buffs who love how its circular interior ramp was a test run for the Guggenheim Museum, which opened a decade later in New York.

Sing Chong Building, 1908, T. Patterson Ross and A.W. Burgen, 601 Grant Ave. There's a reason for the colorful, overtly "Oriental" tone of this and other older Chinatown buildings, points out Drew Bourn: They were commissioned after the 1906 earthquake by Chinese merchants and landowners who grasped that making their neighborhood a tourist attraction would keep it from being shipped to the south edge of town - the proposal of some city leaders at the time.

Grace Cathedral, various architects, 1964, 1100 California St. "By simply going inside the cathedral, I immediately am at peace with the world," writes Ann Dolyniuk. Afterward, "I take my friends outside and gape at the Nob Hill hotels and enjoy the passing cable cars. ... What could be a better site to bring visitors to?"

City Hall, 1915, Arthur Brown, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, A favorite of Michael Zonta, who notes "at one time we really thought this place was something special." Haven't we always? And the interior is as impressive as the 308-foot-tall dome.

The Armory, 1909, Woollett & Woollett, 1800 Mission St. The formidable clinker-brick walls - the better to keep out rioting mobs - alone are worth a visit. But consider the social angle: After this massive structure sat empty for 30 years, impervious to all development schemes, it was bought by ... an Internet pornography company that set up shop in 2008. Or as Zonta puts it, "bulwark of democracy restored by Kink. com." How Ess Eff is that?

More reader favorites

Here is a baker's dozen - plus - of other San Francisco buildings in which readers take pride.

AT&T Park, 24 Willie Mays Plaza

California Academy of Sciences and M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Golden Gate Park

Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption 1111 Gough St.

Coit Tower

Hallidie Building, 130 Sutter St.

The blocks of Laidley Street above Noe Valley where Leslie Wellbaum likes to show off "colorful and unusually constructed houses, a stairway through a jungle of gardens and houses, and a pretty good city view from the top."

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 345 California St.

Mission Dolores, 3321 16th St.

Neptune Society Columbarium, 1 Loraine Ct.

One Bush St. (Crown Zellerbach Building)

Sentinel Tower, 916 Kearny St.

Transamerica Pyramid, 600 Montgomery St.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/26/DD6M1KDFP2.DTL#ixzz1TRvJnv5O
 
#4 ·




Next to the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid, the Ferry Building might be San Francisco's most recognizable -- and revered -- architectural icon.



Various architects built Grace Cathedral in 1964.



The Sing Chong building in San Francisco.



The armory building on Mission St. is a favorite edifice of some locals.



The Palace Hotel's Garden Court features marble columns and a stained-glass dome. The hotel was built in 1909 and is third on the list of buildings to show out-of-towners.



The JPMorgan Chase Building at 560 Mission St. is fourth on the list of the 10 buildings to show to San Francisco visitors.



Xanadu Gallery, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, was built in 1949. Its interior circle ramp was a test for New York's Guggenheim Museum, built 10 years later.



SF MOMA
 
#5 ·
Honorable Mention

  • Chronicle Building
  • Federal Building (450 GG)
  • Marriott (Marquis) Hotel
  • Flood Building
  • Hobart Building
  • Painted Ladies
  • Ghirardelli Square Bldg.
  • Mark Hopkins Hotel
  • St. Mary's Cathedral
  • The Metreon Complex
  • California State Building (Van Ness)
 
#8 ·
My list would be (not in order):

- Coit Tower
- Transamerica Building
- Ferry Building
- Palace of Fine Arts
- City Hall
- California Academy of Sciences
- Grace Cathedral
- St Mary's Cathedral
- SFMOMA
- PacBell Building/140 New Montgomery

others
- James Flood Building
- Sutro Tower (not a building but it's still awesome IMO)
- de Young Musuem
- Contemporary Jewish Museum
- Fairmont Hotel
- ATT Park
 
#9 ·
My list would be (not in order):

- Coit Tower
- Transamerica Building
- Ferry Building
- Palace of Fine Arts
- City Hall
- California Academy of Sciences
- Grace Cathedral
- St Mary's Cathedral
- SFMOMA
- PacBell Building/140 New Montgomery

others
- James Flood Building
- Sutro Tower (not a building but it's still awesome IMO)
- de Young Musuem

- Contemporary Jewish Museum
- Fairmont Hotel
- ATT Park
Interesting... Many of your choices coincide with mine, however I would take issue with two: a) If you include a non-building like Sutro Tower, how could you omit the awsomest non-building of the city - the Golden Gate Bridge! b) If I were to compile a list of the city's uggliest buildings, the De Young Museum (facade) would top that list... :)
 
#11 ·
5 buildings to be reckoned with

SF Chronicle Bldg.


Flood Bldg.


Painted Ladies


Marriott (Marquis) Hotel


St. Mary's Cathedral
 
#13 ·
The Flood Building always mesmerizes me. I wonder how many tourists stand next to it while waiting for a cable car...not realizing they are right next to one of the greatest buildings in California!!!

Also, I am surpised that Mission Dolores, or the US Mint have not been mentioned yet...2 of my favorites..!!!
 
#16 ·
...Also, I am surpised that Mission Dolores, or the US Mint have not been mentioned yet...2 of my favorites..!!!
Mission Dolores


US Mint


Old US Mint
 
#17 ·
2 other SF "Giants"

Stock Exchange


Phelan Bldg. (SF's version of NYC's Flatiron)
 
#31 ·
I wasn't aware of the new wing. Wow, me likey! Especially the terrace and the elevated glass walkway connecting it to that other building. Although the latter also bothers me a little, as it seems like it could be setting up the MOMA for a heist type of situation. Any word on what kind of collections will be housed in the new wing, or will it be used exclusively for temporary exhibits?
 
#25 ·
#26 ·
^^
Hard to believe these have not yet been posted
We reserved them for you to post... I did address De Young (see below), but made a concious decision not to post a pic, given the sensitivity of my eyes, but since you already have, here's a resized version (further below).

...If I were to compile a list of the city's uggliest buildings, the De Young Museum (facade) would top that list...
 
#27 · (Edited)
^^I'm of mixed mind about the de Young (including its facade). For one thing, I don't think it's fair to judge it until it has oxidized to green as the architect intended (for those who don't know, it's entirely covered in copper sheets and it's amazing nobody has tried to strip any of them off yet). The idea was that it's in Golden Gate Park and shouldn't dominate nature so the architect (the Swiss firm Herzog & De Meuron - http://www.herzogdemeuron.com/index.html ) wanted it to turn green and blend into the background. That's also why it's otherwise bland, unassuming and undecorated.

But I so love the observation tower, I almost don't care about the facade.

Here's another view of the building:


Source: http://www.sftravel.com/de_young_museum_san_francisco.html

The view (see if you can spot the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge towers at about 20 seconds):

 
#30 · (Edited)
The view (see if you can spot the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge towers at about 20 seconds):
The bridge towers are visible on the still video image (post#27) and 15 seconds after clicking on play. :)
 
#28 ·
Another one we all forgot (but the above tower view reminded me), Renzo Piano's California Academy of Sciences. Notice the reuse of a portion of the facade of the old Academy to the left of the main entrance.



Inside view of the rain forest exhibit

Source of images: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Academy_of_Sciences

Sorry about the size of the photos--I don't know how to make them smaller and these are far and away the best views I can find.
 
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