Category: Financial District
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Estero en Movimiento by Claudio Talavera-Ballón
Battery Bridge Between Bush and Market This street mural is by Peruvian-born, San Francisco artist Claudio Talavera-Ballón. Talavera-Ballón’s inspiration for his 1,900-square-foot mural is Point Reyes’ Drakes estuary. “I want to celebrate the nature that surrounds us here in the Bay Area, also in hopes the mural can serve as a reminder to protect the…
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Mining Exchange
350 Bush Financial District The history of the Mining Exchange can be read here, as this is a follow up post regarding the “historic restoration” of the building that took place in 2018. The City of San Francisco has a policy that allows developers to put up a history vignette in place of actual historical…
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Murals of the Merchant Exchange Building
465 California Street Financial District Julia Morgan was responsible for the artistic elements, under architect Willis Polk, in the Merchant Exchange Building. Miss Morgan chose William A. Coulter, the leading marine artist of his time to fill the bays between the marble and bronze columns in what is now a bank lobby. William Alexander Coulter,…
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Art at the Merchant Exchange Building
465 California Street Financial District As you enter the lobby from the California Street side of the Merchant’s Exchange Building you will be greeted by many of San Francisco’s founders. These ceramic/clay sculptures are each about 36″ x 24″ and were sculpted by Mark Jaeger of Marin County. Mark was born in San Francisco and…
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155 Sansome Street
155 Sansome Street Financial District The sculptures over the Sansome Street entrance to the Pacific Stock Exchange, now the City Club, were done in 1929-1930 by Ralph Stackpole. Stackpole has been in this website many times before and you can read about him and his work here. On January 18, 1930 Junius Cravens of the Argonaut…
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Whispering Dishes
Market Street and Yerba Buena Lane Financial District This exhibit is the first of a series titled Living Innovation Zones. Living Innovation Zones (LIZ) are new public spaces opening up along Market Street between Octavia and The Embarcadero. The LIZ’s are collaborationa between the community, innovators, and the City to enhance the public good, foster learning…
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Caduceus
110 Sutter Street Financial District This was originally designed in a skeletal Chicago School manner by the important but little-known firm of Hemenway and Miller and remodeled with an overlay of Beaux-Arts details by architect E. A. Bozio. **** This slightly stuffy, but excellent article, written in 1979, explains the building and its environs perfectly.…
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Old Chamber of Commerce Building
333 Pine Street Financial District / Downtown ** From Men Who Made San Francisco 1912 There is not much left to say about McDougall other than he was educated at the California School of Design. As stated, his work covered a wide range of building types, including churches, schools, apartment houses, commercial buildings, hotels, and private…
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William Alexander Leidesdorff
One Leidesdorff Financial District The plaque outside this building celebrates the architect, leaving one to assume that that is who this person is. However, this is William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr. Leidesdorff was born to a Dane and a Creole in the Virgin Islands in 1812. Legally recognized by his Danish father, Leidesdorff came under the…
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U.S. Custom House Sculpture
555 Battery Street Financial District U.S. Customs House Most of the granite sculptures on the U.S. Custom house were done in-situ by unknown artists. The roof top sculpture, however, was done by Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper (April 8, 1875 – 1937) was an American sculptor. Born in Glenwood, Iowa, and based in Denver, Colorado, Cooper studied under Preston…
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The Hayward/Kohl Building
400 Montgomery Street Financial District The Hayward/Kohl Building was designed by Percy & Polk (George Percy and Willis Polk both of whom have been written about on this site many times before) for Alvinza Hayward. Hayward made his fortune from the Eureka Gold Mine in California and the Comstock Silver Mine in Nevada as well as investments in timber, coal,…
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Leo Lentelli and his San Francisco Work
Hunter Dunlin Building 111 Sutter Street Financial District The Hunter Dunlin Building is one of San Francisco’s gems. Restored in the late 1990’s to its former glory, it has ornamentation throughout its lobby and everywhere you look on the exterior. There are six plaques on the Northern and Eastern facades called The Seasons. They are…
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The City in Bronze
275 Sacramento Street Financial District These three whimsical buildings, titled The City, are by Alexander MacLeitch. They are bronze and were installed in 2009 by the owners of the Patson Building at 275 Sacramento Street. This is part of the percent for Art Program in San Francisco. According to MacLeitch’s website: I create art using…
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Fort Gunnybags
Sacramento and Front Streets Financial District The San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was a popular ad hoc organization formed in 1851 and revived in 1856 in response to rampant crime and corruption in the municipal government of San Francisco. It was one of the most successful organizations in the vigilante tradition of the American Old West. *** From Found SF May…
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Systematic Saving is the Key to Success
1 Montgomery Street Financial District This pressed copper decorative marquee graces the side entrance to the First National Bank, now Wells Fargo. There are two figures, one on each side of the marquee that stand and serve as supports. Cornucopias are placed at their feet. A nude male and female figure recline on either side of…
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The First National Bank Building
1 Montgomery Street Financial District This classic Italian Renaissance bank building was designed by Willis Polk in 1908. Polk has been in this website many times. The Raymond granite entryway is only the tease to a beautiful and highly ornamented interior, replete with a carved white marble staircase; counters and benches of carved marble along…
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350 Bush Street
San Francisco Mining Exchange 350 Bush Street Financial District The San Francisco Mining Exchange, the second oldest exchange in the United States after the New York Stock Exchange, was formed in 1862 to trade mining stocks. It is San Francisco Landmark #113. When trading in mining stocks surged in the early 1920s, the Mining Exchange…
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Tut-mania
Originally the Title Insurance Company Building 130 Montgomery Financial District This lovely Art Deco building was built in 1930 by the O’Brien Brothers along with Wilbur D. Peugh. O’Brien Brothers consisted of Walter J., Albert L. and Arthur T. O’Brien, and practiced in San Francisco from 1907 through 1935. They were architects with the Pickwick…
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The Insurance Exchange
Insurance Exchange Building 433 California Street Financial District Turning 100 years old this year, the Insurance Exchange was designed by Willis Polk. This highly ornamented building is complimented by its sister building the Merchant’s Exchange next door. The highly decorated exterior of the building, flanked with majestic Corinthian columns and topped with a very detailed…
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L’Octagon by Pol Bury
353 Sansome Street The Financial District L’Octagon by Pol Bury – Marble and Steel L’Octagon is a result of the 1% for Art program in San Francisco. It is available for viewing between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. M-F This lovely sculpture actually moves. The balls slightly fill with water on the bottom and roll…
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Called to Rise
235 Pine Street Financial District Called to Rise features individuals who have contributed significantly to the history of San Francisco. The figures include, Juan Bautista De Anza, Eadweard Muybridge, Makato Hagiwara, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, Chingwah Lee, Ishi, Alfred Louis Kroeber, Philip Burton, Amadeo Peter Giannini, Benjamin Franklin Norris, Timothy Pflueger, Douglas Tilden, Kurt Herbert Adler,…
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Tile and Bronze Column
580 Bush Street Financial District/Union Square/Chinatown This little hidden gem, done in 1992, is a collaboation of Ruth Asawa, her son Paul Lanier and artist Nancy Thompson. Ruth Asawa has been on this website many times before. I recently found this article by Milton Chen and Ruth Cox at Edutopia that gives a few new details…
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The Pacific Coast Stock Exchange
301 Pine Street Financial District 301 Pine Street-one of the historic buildings that comprised our financial system on the West Coast-began its life in 1915 as a sub-treasury building for the United States Treasury. In 1930, when the San Francisco Financial District was fast becoming the Wall Street of the West, the “gentlemen of the…
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Ed Carpenter Arches the 6th Floor Terrace at 150 California
150 California Street POPOS on the 6th Floor Terrace Open 9 am to 6 pm Ed Carpenter is an artist specializing in large-scale public installations ranging from architectural sculpture to infrastructure design. Since 1973 he has completed scores of projects for public, corporate, and ecclesiastical clients. Working internationally from his studio in Portland, Oregon, Carpenter…
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Star Maiden a relic of the Pan Pacific Exposition
1 Sansome Street POPOS Open During Business Hours Star Maiden by Stirling Calder (Alexander) Stirling Calder attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, in 1885, at the age of 16. Here he studied under Thomas Eakins. He apprenticed as a sculptor the following year, working on his father’s extensive sculpture program for Philadelphia City Hall,…
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Core by Charles Arnoldi
101 2nd Street SOMA – Financial District Core by Charles Arnoldi – Acrylic on Canvas Core is a result of the POPOS and 1% for Art programs of San Francisco. While viewable through the buildings glass it is available for closer viewing from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm M-F. Charles Arnoldi was born April 10, 1946…
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A Joan Brown Obelisk at 343 Sansome Street
343 Sansome Street The Financial District Four Seasons by Joan Brown This tiled obelisk is by Joan Brown. Joan Brown was an American figurative painter who was born in San Francisco and lived and worked in Northern California. She was a notable member of the “second generation” of the Bay Area Figurative Movement. She studied at…