Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Edgar Walter and Electric Power

Posted by Cindy on March 29, 2001

Mar 292001

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 sign is flanked with two kneeling men facing the center. Under the base is a head of a grizzly bear, set amidst foliage, claws showing over the rim of the archway. The sculptor for this entry way was Edgar Walter. Edgar Walter was born in Continue Reading

245 Market Standing As A Remembrance of Skyscrapers of Old

Posted by Cindy on March 29, 2001

Mar 292001

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 is fast being lost with newer modern style buildings. 245 Market was also one of the first steel skyscrapers built in San Francisco. The building was enlarged in 1945-1947 to the design of Arthur Brown, Jr. The addition, which has its own address at 25 Beale Street, Continue Reading

Mechanics Monument

Posted by Cindy on March 28, 2001

Mar 282001

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 1850 started the state’s first ironworks and machine shop, established the first gas company for street lighting in the city in 1852, and later initiated the first streetcar line. Commissioned to create a monument for the Donahues, Tilden had difficulty finding an idea. Taking a Continue Reading

Fountain at One Bush Plaza

Posted by Cindy on March 27, 2001

Mar 272001

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 San Francisco. Tolerton studied philosophy at Stanford University from 1926 until 1928, then attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where he also taught. He also studied ironworking in France, Spain, Italy and Germany. His work was almost exclusively in metal, but apparently he spent some time Continue Reading

Woman in Bronze

Posted by Cindy on March 27, 2001

Mar 272001

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 are on display in Rome at Palazzo Montecitorio where they have rested since after his death in 1969. This particular sculpture was mentioned in Life Magazine’s “Life Guide – Art in Buildings” in 1963.

One Bush Plaza and Its Environs

Posted by Cindy on March 26, 2001

Mar 262001

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. The term originated from the book International Style (1952). The book documented the International Exhibition of Modern Architecture held at MOMA in New York City in 1932. International Style encompasses three elements: expression of volume rather than mass, emphasis on balance rather than preconceived symmetry, and expulsion Continue Reading

Market Street- Waterfall Walls

Posted by Cindy on March 25, 2001

Mar 252001

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 realize instantly this artists loves large pieces of stone. * This is the view from Market Street. The piece was Commissioned by the developer Tishman/Speyer and the San Francisco Arts Commission, in 1991. Zimmerman was born in Philadelphia, PA, received both undergraduate and Master’s degree in Continue Reading

Escalieta 1

Posted by Cindy on March 24, 2001

Mar 242001

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 in Sanger, California, to immigrant parents who had fled Mexico during political unrest following the Mexican Revolution. He began attending college at San Francisco City College in 1950, initially studying to be an electrical engineer. After taking a class in ceramics, he was inspired to Continue Reading

Market Street’s Flatiron Building

Posted by Cindy on March 23, 2001

Mar 232001

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 of many of them such as the 1892 Crocker Building at Post and Market for high-rises has made them rare. The skeletal structure of the building is well-adapted to an unusual (for San Francisco) Gothic treatment in which three-part bays are separated by thin Continue Reading

Totem Phoenix

Posted by Cindy on March 22, 2001

Mar 222001

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 work synthesizes various forms of nature, fusing diverse images to capture the vibrancy of life. He is a recognized master of metal fabrication and has travelled nationally teaching for the International Sculpture Conference. He was educated at the University of Oregon and is well known Continue Reading

Admission Day Monument on Market Street

Posted by Cindy on March 21, 2001

Mar 212001

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 the artist’s wife. The angel carries an open book, inscribed “September 9, 1850” the date California became a state. The miner holds a pick behind his back, is armed with a six-shooter and is waving a flag in his left hand. The monument stood for 51 Continue Reading

Monadnock Building

Posted by Cindy on March 20, 2001

Mar 202001

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. The theme of this mural is “San Francisco Renaissance.” It is painted in the Renaissance Baroque style trompe l’oeil (which means to fool the eye) and chosen because the facade of this building was inspired by that period. That is why all these San Francisco Continue Reading

Lotta’s Fountain

Posted by Cindy on March 19, 2001

Mar 192001

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 girl performing for miners in the gold country and went on to become one of America’s most popular stage performers. The fountain was cast in Philadelphia, shipped to San Francisco on an 18,000 mile sea journey around Cape Horn reassembled and presented to the citizens of Continue Reading

Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges

Posted by Cindy on March 18, 2001

Mar 182001

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 mixed media assemblage work, Mildred Howard has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Adeline Kent Award from the San Francisco Art Institute, the Joan Mitchell Foundation and a fellow-ship from the California Arts Council. When Howard was asked how she came by the Continue Reading

Market Street Angel

Posted by Cindy on March 17, 2001

Mar 172001

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 reads as an elegy for the waning of humanism, in the symbolic form of a ruined angel. By not overreaching in scale, content or its bid for attention, the piece achieves an improbable grandeur ” * From DeStaebler’s obituary in the New York Times: Continue Reading

Two Old Banks Still Stand Proud

Posted by Cindy on March 16, 2001

Mar 162001

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 waste, uses less energy and scales down on the consumption of building materials. San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square remodel in 1964 marked the first adaptive re-use project in the United States and San Francisco has never looked back. A prime example of adaptive re-use in San Continue Reading

The Humboldt Bank Building

Posted by Cindy on March 15, 2001

Mar 152001

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 Bank Building is a classic Beaux Arts building. One of the many Beaux Arts principals Meyer incorporated into the design was a hierarchy of space. In this case, a grand entrance lobby is topped by 19 floors of functional office space. The entryway to the Continue Reading

Market Street Clock

Posted by Cindy on March 14, 2001

Mar 142001

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 present location and remained in operation until August 1967, when it was placed in storage during the construction of BART. Because of conflict with the Market Street beautification and tree-planting scheme, the clock almost didn’t make it back, but after strongly expressed public opinion, Continue Reading

Path of Gold Street Lamps

Posted by Cindy on March 13, 2001

Mar 132001

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 movement of the early 20th century, which also gave San Francisco the Civic Center. Their distinctive color and pattern of light identify Market Street from distant viewpoints. The Winning of the West bases by sculptor Arthur Putnam feature three bands of historical subjects: covered wagons, Continue Reading

Brightening Mid-Market

Posted by Cindy on March 12, 2001

Mar 122001

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 the Creative Work Fund, I was able to find this photo of the work in progress, as well as an explanation of the piece. “The proposed mural will be a natural outgrowth of Rojas’s earlier work, which was overtly feminist and employed surreal or unreal Continue Reading

Os Gemeos First Go Around

Posted by Cindy on March 11, 2001

Mar 112001

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 scene, helping to define Brazil’s own style. Their work often features yellow-skinned characters but is otherwise diverse and ranges from tags to complicated murals. Subjects range from family portraits to commentary on São Paulo’s social and political circumstances, as well as Brazilian folklore. Their graffiti Continue Reading

Os Gemeos on Market Street

Posted by Cindy on March 11, 2001

Mar 112001

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 to Juxtapoz: Many years ago, the Brazilian twin art duo, painted this exact roof. It was an impressive piece, but upon their recent return to San Francisco, the two decided to revamp with something new. In this new version, local graffiti martyr, Tie and the recently Continue Reading

The Eastern Outfitting Company

Posted by Cindy on March 10, 2001

Mar 102001

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 frame construction has a unique steel and glass façade that begins above the ground floor retail space and is framed by Corinthian pillars. The giant Corinthian order columns and capitals are constructed of terra-cotta tiles; and the entablature, seemingly so massive, is in fact hollow—a Continue Reading

Rainbow Warrior

Posted by Cindy on March 9, 2001

Mar 092001

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, 10th grade was my last year, and I’ve always been an artist, that’s what I always wanted to be when I was a kid. I guess I forgot it for awhile when I was in my early 20s. I was an alcoholic, and once I Continue Reading

The Hibernia Bank at the Heart of MidMarket

Posted by Cindy on March 9, 2001

Mar 092001

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 best epitomizes the concept of the City Beautiful Movement has a large gaping hole in the middle. The area around 6th and Market has been taken over by the less fortunate, and they have made it their outdoor hotel. The area between 5th and 10th on Market Continue Reading

IOOF Building at Mid-Market

Posted by Cindy on March 8, 2001

Mar 082001

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 Odd Fellows (IOOF), is a global altruistic and benevolent fraternal organization derived from the similar British Oddfellows service organizations. Their symbol of three links stand for Friendship, Love and Truth. The North American IOOF was founded in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 26, 1819. Odd Fellowship became the first national fraternity to include both Continue Reading

UN Plaza Fountain

Posted by Cindy on March 7, 2001

Mar 072001

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 Lawrence Halprin. The Plaza was a joint effort between Halprin, Swiss architect Mario Ciampi and John Carl Warnecke. The fountain is intended to represent the seven continents of the world. Each “landmass” is tied together by the water symbolizing the ocean. According to an April 26, Continue Reading

The Faces of 50 UN Plaza

Posted by Cindy on March 7, 2001

Mar 072001

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 government allocated $2.5 million for the Federal Building’s design and construction, although final costs reached a total of $3 million. Architect Arthur Brown, Jr. designed the building, which was constructed between 1934 and 1936. Arthur Brown, Jr. (1874-1957) was born in Oakland, California. He graduated Continue Reading

Embarcadero Walk Map

Posted by Cindy on January 30, 2000

Jan 302000

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The Embarcadero Ribbon

Posted by Cindy on January 29, 2000

Jan 292000

The Embarcadero The Ferry Building, built in 1898, sits at the foot of Market Street. In 1953, San Francisco proposed the Embarcadero Freeway that was to connect the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges. Construction started at the Bay Bridge end; after 1.2 miles of freeway were built, neighborhood organizations began to gather and oppose the project. In 1959 the Board of Supervisors voted to stop the construction, marking the first time a government body had ever taken such an action. For years, the stub of freeway running across the waterfront stood as a monument to both grand freeway construction and Continue Reading

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