Architecture Downtown

Neighborhood: Downtown

Description

After the 1906 earthquake crumbled and burned San Francisco, the city was back to square one. If it wanted to remain the major American city of the West, it wouldn’t just need to rebuild — it needed to transcend what had been done before.

Over the next century, luminous designers from Chicago and New York would bring their experiences working with new materials set at record heights to innovate the local blueprint. Architects like George Kelham, Willis Polk, William Pereira, and SOM would paint the skyline out of thin air. Julia Morgan, the first female licensed architect in California, would also make her Parisian Beaux Arts training evident downtown. Across the city, beautiful buildings went up every year.

Look up today, and you’ll see a new beacon dominating the sky: the Salesforce Tower, the tallest office building in the West. Hear about how San Francisco’s distinctive skyline and urban plan was shaped in the aftermath of catastrophe. Get to know the architects who revolutionized the way we build — and learn all the secrets of this city’s magnificent rise to the heavens.