Category: Market Street – Part 1
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Edgar Walter and Electric Power
Pacific Gas and Electric Building 245 Market Street Embarcadero/Financial District Above the arched entryway to the Pacific Gas and Electric building is this bas-relief depicting the primary activities of the company, hydroelectric power. At the top is a waterworks with water pouring through three openings symbolizing the “falling waters” that come from the mountains. This…
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245 Market Standing As A Remembrance of Skyscrapers of Old
245 Market Street Financial District / Embarcadero The seventeen story Pacific Gas and Electric Company General Office Building, designed by Bakewell & Brown and built between 1923 and 1925, is one of a series of skyscrapers built during the 1910s and 1920s which imparted to San Francisco its downtown character. This character of large ornamented classic buildings…
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Mechanics Monument
Market at Bush and Battery Mechanics Monument Douglas Tilden This sculpture by Douglas Tilden was one of three major art works for the Market Street Beautification Project at the turn of the 20th century. It was funded with a bequest of $25,000 from James Mervyn Donahue, the son of the late Peter Donahue, who in…
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Fountain at One Bush Plaza
Financial District One Bush Plaza Crown Zellerbach Building This beautiful and timeless fountain was made in 1959. It was a creation of artist David Tolerton. Tolerton was born in 1907 and died of natural causes at 93. His father came to the Bay area in 1915 and owned an art gallery on Sutter Street in…
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Woman in Bronze
Financial District One Bush Plaza Woman in Bronze Marcello Mascherini 1959 Marcello Mascherini was an Italian sculptor, born in Padua, who lived from 1906 to 1983. While an extremely famous sculptor in his time, little is written about him today. Marcello Mascherini was a prolific sculptor who made an impact on Italian art. Mascherini’s sculptures…
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One Bush Plaza and Its Environs
1 Bush Plaza Market Street Area One Bush Plaza, also known as the Crown Zellerbach Building, stands as a monument to International Style. International style is a phase of Modern architecture that began at the beginning of the 20th century, and continues as a dominant style in corporate and institutional structures in the 21st century.…
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Market Street- Waterfall Walls
514 Market Street This Fountain has now been replaced – see bottom of this post. Waterfall Walls by Elyn Zimmerman This Public Art was provided by the 1% for Public Art Program This view is actually walking from Stevenson Street towards Market Street, which affords the nicest view. When viewing Elyn Zimmermans web page you…
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Escalieta 1
SOMA Financial District 49 Stevenson Escalieta 1 by Manuel Neri – Marble – 1985 This is public art created by the 1% Public Art Program Manuel Neri (born April 12, 1930) is an American sculptor, painter, and printmaker and a notable member of the “second generation” of the Bay Area Figurative Movement. Neri was born…
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Market Street’s Flatiron Building
Flat Iron Building 540 Market Street Market Street / Financial District Built in 1913 the Flatiron Building was designed by Havens & Toepke. It is one of the few, and most distinctive extant flatirons on Market Street. Flatirons were common north of Market both before and after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, but the destruction…
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Totem Phoenix
Financial District/SOMA 595 Market at Stevenson and 2nd Street Totem Phoenix by Dan Dykes * The piece is registered with the Smithsonian. The piece was done in 1988, is stainless steel and weighs one ton. Dan Dykes is a site-sensitive sculptor who works in a variety of media, including stone, bronze and stainless steel. His…
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Admission Day Monument on Market Street
Admission Day Monument Market, Post and Montgomery Streets Like the Mechanics Monument down the street, this work is by Douglas Tilden. Commissioned by Mayor James D. Phelan and unveiled on September 5, 1897. The monument commemorates the admission of California into the Union. The angel atop the statue is said to have been modeled after…
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Monadnock Building
Monadnock Building 685 Market Street San Francisco The Monadnock building has a fascinating history, and their website does a nice job of laying it out. They also describe the murals: The twenty-four foot barrel-vaulted atrium lobby has outstanding Tiepolo-inspired trompe l’oeil murals, featuring famous people from the city’s past, by the Evans and Brown Co.…
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Lotta’s Fountain
Lotta’s Fountain Market Street at Geary and Kearney Lotta’s fountain is probably one of the best known landmarks and pieces of public art in the city. It is also the oldest surviving monument in San Francisco, Lotta’s fountain was donated by singer/dancer Charlotte Mignon (Lotta) Crabtree in 1875. Lotta began her career as a young…
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Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges
Lining the 200 Block of Stevenson Street Off of 3rd near Market Locks and Keys For Harry Bridges was commissioned by Millennium Partners/ WGB Ventures Inc and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. The piece is by artist Mildred Howard, who has been in this site before. Howard is known for her sculptural installations and…
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Market Street Angel
720 Market Street Angel by Stephen de Staebler Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote this in 2002 “Several years ago a winged bronze figure by Bay Area’s sculptor Stephen de Staebler appeared without fanfare, nestled against a building facade on Market Street. Looking gnawed by time, as de Stabler’s figures typically do, it…
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Two Old Banks Still Stand Proud
Grant Avenue and Market Street Many critics of historical preservation projects complain that the process leaves the building frozen in time. Adaptive re-use proves that this does not need to be the case. Adaptive re-use, which adapts buildings for new uses while retaining their historic features, can also a sustainable form of development that reduces…
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The Humboldt Bank Building
785 Market Street When the 1906 earthquake struck, construction of the Humboldt Bank Building was already underway. Fortunately only the foundation had been laid, leaving the architect the leeway to make necessary changes. The architect, Frederick H. Meyer, used this opportunity to incorporate every known fire and safety feature of the time into the new structure. The Humboldt…
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Market Street Clock
870 Market Street Samuels Clock Purchased by Albert Samuels in 1915, (the year of the Pan Pacific Exhibition) the Samuel’s clock was originally in front of Samuels Jewelry Store at 5th & Market Streets. In 1943 Mr. Samuels purchased the property at 856 Market and moved his company. The clock was moved to its…
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Path of Gold Street Lamps
Market Street The Ferry Building to Castro Street * * * Known as the Path of Gold due to their golden hue which emanates from yellow sodium vapor lamps the 33-foot high lampposts along Market Street were designated historic landmarks in 1991. The 327 Path of Gold standards are a legacy from the City Beautiful…
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Brightening Mid-Market
982 Market Street The side of the Warfield Theater Mid-Market This piece, finished in May of this year (2014), was done by Clare Rojas (who has been in this website before), along with the 509 Cultural Center. The mural was sponsored, to the tune of $40,000, by the Walter and Elise Hass Fund. Thanks to…
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Os Gemeos First Go Around
Mid Market near 6th Untitled by Os Gemeos Os Gemeos means “the twins” in Portuguese and is pronouced “Ose Zhe’-mee-ose.” These two identical twin brothers (born 1974) hail from São Paulo, Brazil. Their real names are Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo. They started painting graffiti in 1987 and gradually became a main influence in the local…
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Os Gemeos on Market Street
1007 Market Street Mid Market This piece, sponsored by The Luggage Store Gallery and Funded by the Graue Family Fund for Public Art was done by Os Gemeos in September of 2013. Os Gemeos have been in this website before. They are twin brothers from Sao Paulo with a wonderful and very distinctive style. According…
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The Eastern Outfitting Company
1017 Market Street Mid-Market This gorgeous building sits on Market between 6th and 7th. It has been sheathed and scaffolded for quite awhile now, and it is a pleasure to see that it has come out from behind its blanket much better for the stay. The seven story building, with its terra-cotta finish and steel…
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Rainbow Warrior
1061 Market Street San Francisco This little piece has got to just make you smile. It is by the Rainbow Warrior, Ernest Doty. Doty is from Albuquerque, New Mexico and presently lives in Oakland. He has lived a fascinating life which was covered in an interview at Oakland Art Beat. An excerpt: I’m a high-school dropout,…
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The Hibernia Bank at the Heart of MidMarket
1 Jones Street MidMarket Imagine walking down the Champs-Élysées, or Fifth Avenue between 49th and 60th Streets, and when you hit the middle you hail a cab just to go two or three blocks, then get out and continue walking. This is what has happened to Market Street in San Francisco. The street that…
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IOOF Building at Mid-Market
26 7th Street Mid Market This is the second Independent Order of Odd Fellows Temple in San Francisco, the first was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. There is a wonderful history of the past temples with great photographs at my friend Mark’s site. Check out the old photos here. The Independent Order of…
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UN Plaza Fountain
UN Plaza Civic Center There is more to the U.N. Plaza fountain than meets the eye, however, typical of the City of San Francisco it took three redesigns, one public vote and a lot of back and forth (much of it ridiculous), to finally get the thing built. The fountain was designed by landscape architect…
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The Faces of 50 UN Plaza
50 UN Plaza City Center The Federal Building of San Francisco was vacated by the US Government in 2007 when they built a newer building in Civic Center. It has recently undergone a $121 million restoration and will be the offices of Section 9 GSA. This article is about the exterior of the building. In 1927, the…