Building sights in San Francisco
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A
City Hall
That mighty beaux-arts dome pretty much covers San Francisco’s grandest ambitions and fundamental flaws. Designed by John Bakewell and Arthur Brown Jr in 1915 to top Paris for flair and outsize the capitol building dome in Washington, DC, the dome was a little unsteady until its retrofit after the 1989 earthquake, when ingenious technology enabled the dome to swing on its base without raising alarm. The gold leafing on the dome’s exterior is a reminder of dot-com-era excess. But from the inside, the splendid rotunda has ringing acoustics, and if that dome could talk, it would tell of triumph and tragedy. Anti-McCarthy sit-in protesters were hosed off the grand staircase i…
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B
Balmy Alley
Inspired by local Diego Rivera and WPA murals, and outraged by US foreign policy in Central America, Mission activist artists set out in the 1970s to transform the political landscape, one mural-covered garage door at a time. Balmy Alley became a site for inquiring minds, with historic early works by muralist groups such as the Mujeres Muralistas (Women Muralists) and Placa (meaning ‘mark-making’) transforming fences and garages into artistic statements. Today, Precita Eyes restores these murals, commissions new ones by rising San Francisco artists and leads muralist-led tours that cover 75 Mission murals within an eight-block radius of Balmy Alley. On November 1, the…
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C
Chinese Telephone Exchange
This triple-decker tiled pagoda caused a sensation in 1894 not for its looks, but its smarts: to connect callers to the right person, switchboard operators had to speak fluent English and five Chinese dialects and memorize at least 1500 Chinatown residents by name, residence and occupation. The switchboard was open 365 days a year, and the manager and assistant managers lived onsite. Since anyone born in China was prohibited by law from visiting San Francisco throughout the 1882–1943 Chinese Exclusion era, this switchboard was the main means of contact with family and business partners in China. The exchange operated until 1949, and the landmark was bought and restored by…
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D
Federal Building
The revolutionary green design of this new government office building by 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Thomas Mayne means huge savings in energy consumption, not to mention taxpayer dollars. The ingenious layout eliminates internal political battles over corner offices, providing direct sunlight, natural ventilation and views for 90% of work stations. Detractors claim it looks like a too-tall fortress designed to remind plucky SF who’s really boss. Regardless, it’s a significant and much-needed addition to the otherwise bland, sometimes ugly, SoMa skyline.
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E
James Flood Building
This 1904 stone building survived the 1906 quake and retains much of its original character, notwithstanding the ground-level Gap flagship. Upstairs are long, labyrinthine halls lined with frosted-glass doors, just like in a noir movie – and that’s no coincidence. Back in 1921 the San Francisco office of the infamous Pinkerton National Detective Agency hired a young PI named Dashiell Hammett, now better known as the author of the 1930 noir classic The Maltese Falcon.
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F
Golden Gate National Recreation Area Headquarters
Find out everything a hard-core hiker needs to know about accessing the outer reaches of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), including the Presidio, Alcatraz, Fort Point, Fort Funston, the Cliff House, Muir Woods and the Marin Headlands. This is the park’s HQ and visitors center, and offers a wealth of maps and information about camping, hiking and other programs for these and other national parks in the Pacific West region (including Yosemite).
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AP Hotaling Warehouse
‘If, as they say, God spanked the town/For being over-frisky, /Why did He burn His churches down/And spare Hotaling’s whiskey?’ The snappiest comeback in SF history was this saloon-goers’ retort after Hotaling’s 1866 whiskey warehouse survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, which many considered divine retribution for Barbary Coast debauchery. A bronze plaque with this ditty still graces the resilient Italianate building.
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WPA Murals at Rincon Annex Post Office
Russian-born painter Anton Refregier won the Works Project Administration’s largest commission to depict the history of Northern California in 1941, but WWII intervened. When Refregier began again in 1945, he was lobbied by interest groups to present their version of history, and it took three years and 92 changes to make everyone happy. The murals were deemed ‘communist’ by McCarthyists in 1953, but they’re now protected as a National Landmark.
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Mission High School
San Francisco’s most spectacular bell tower is the churrigueresque tiled tower of Mission High, built in the mission revival style from 1925 to 1927. This is one place where you might actually want to see a high-school musical – the theater has a glorious gold-leafed dome with deco chandeliers. The multiculti student body here is mostly African American and Latino, and its famous alumni include Maya Angelou and Carlos Santana.
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Audium
Sit in total darkness as Stan Shaff plays his hour-plus compositions of sounds emitted by his sound chamber, which sometimes degenerate into 1970s sci-fi sound effects before resolving into oddly endearing Moog synthesizer wheezes. The Audium was specifically sculpted in 1962 to produce bizarre acoustic effects and eerie soundscapes that only a true stoner could enjoy for two solid hours in the dark – you know who you are.
reviewed
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K
Harvey Milk Plaza
The first thing you’ll notice as you emerge from the Castro St Muni station is a huge, irrepressibly cheerful rainbow flag. Gay kids too young for the bars sit on the wall beneath; look closer and you’ll notice a plaque honoring the man whose lasting legacy to the Castro is civic pride and political clout. The ugly plaza may soon be redesigned to give Harvey more of a starring role.
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Good Luck Parking Garage
Each parking spot at this garage comes with fortune-cookie wisdom stenciled onto the asphalt: ‘You have already found your true love. Stop looking.’ These omens are brought to you by artist Harrell Fletcher and co-conspirator Jon Rubin, who also gathered the vintage photographs of local residents’ Chinese and Italian ancestors that grace the entry tiles like heraldic emblems.
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Camera Obscura
Behind Cliff House is Camera Obscura , built in 1948-49 as part of the Playland at the Beach amusement area. The small building is decorated to look like a giant 35mm camera with its lens pointing to the sky. Inside, the Victorian invention (based on a 15th century design by Leonardo da Vinci) produces 360 degree 'projections' of the Seal Rock Area.
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