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RECORD Recommends: Historic San Francisco Architecture
Which historic structures should you see while rushing to AIA convention-related events? One obvious answer is the Golden Gate Bridge. But our panel also has a few other suggestions for visitors who want a view of San Francisco’s architectural evolution.
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One of the most famous landmarks in San Francisco, the Ferry Building Marketplace was constructed in 1898 as a transportation hub, when taking the ferry was still the most common way to reach the city. After extensive renovations in the 1980s and 1990s, the building is now a thriving dining hub with a popular open-air market on Saturdays. John King recommends checking out the restored Piers 1.5, 3 and 5 to the North of the Ferry Building for “the most intense collision of city and bay, present and past that you’ll find.”
The de Young and the Academy of Sciences may get most of the attention in Golden Gate Park, but the 1879 Conservatory of Flowers offers a look at a monumental San Francisco architecture during the second half of the 19th century. John King describes it as “a Brobdingnagian greenhouse shipped in pieces from England in the 19th Century and now fully restored.”
Marsha Maytum recommends a visit to San Francisco City Hall, designed by Robert Brown and completed in 1915, singling out its rotunda. Mark Harbick backs up her suggestion. Do not “just view [city hall] from the street,” he says. “Go in. Really. New York has Grand Central Station; San Francisco has the Rotunda.”
Several panel members also recommend the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Berkeley. Designed by Bernard Maybeck and completed in 1910, the church has undergone major renovations over its nearly 100-year history, and it is the only designated national landmark in Berkeley. The church will be open for tours during the AIA convention.
Across the street from the Morphosis-designed federal building, visitors will find an older, but equally noteworthy civic building. The U.S. Court of Appeals is “straightforward 1905 pomp,” says John King, adding, the interiors are “the most sybaritic procession of spaces this side of Versailles, slathered in thickly veined marble, thickly carved wood, and glittering tile mosaics.”
From civics to academics, two projects at an institution of higher learning stood out for our panel. The first is the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, designed by Mario Ciampi and completed in 1970.
“[Ciampi’s] masterpiece is still fabulous even with its crude seismic retrofit,” says Owen Kennerly. Retrofit or not, the interior of BAM still boasts its signature, zigzagging interior. While on the UC Berkeley campus, visitors can also explore what John King calls the “classical grandeur” of the Doe Library, designed by Emile Benard and completed in 1911.
Advocating for a quick trip north to Marin County, Jay Sweet, CEO of Boyd Lighting, points out the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael. Frank Lloyd Wright’s final commission, the Civic Center has multiple stages, auditoriums, fairgrounds, and exhibitions, all within a sprawling complex.
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