cindy casey

Newsstand

03/30/12 1:52pm

Architecture Spotlight: The Humboldt Bank Building

When the 1906 earthquake struck, construction of the Humboldt Bank Building was already underway. The building was completely destroyed, and construction had to begin all over again. 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 tower features a highly ornamented arch. Arched windows tied together with banded pilasters punctuate the tower-another classic Beaux Arts feature. All of this is complemented with richly detailed ornamentation.

Meyer chose to crown the building with a highly stylized dome. This dome was originally intended to mimic the Call Building, which was subsequently destroyed in the 1906 fire.

In his second (post-earthquake) attempt, Meyer kept his original design for the faà§ade, but changed the structural design significantly.

The exterior shell of the building was redesigned to be all concrete. Originally the entire building was to be clad in Colusa stone-from Colusa County, CA-however, Meyer knew that Colusa stone spalls (chips) when exposed to heat, so he limited the Colusa stone to the first three floors and clad the remaining floors in a terra cotta veneer.

The original plans called for the floors to be made of hollow tile; this was changed to reinforced concrete. Throughout the building, metal trim was used in place of high quality oak, at almost double the price.

The exterior windows are wire glass. Wire glass-thick glass with embedded chicken wire-is meant to prevent glass from shattering in the case of fire.

Many buildings built prior to the fire had water towers placed on their roofs. However, Meyer noticed that these often shook loose during the earthquake, rendering them useless in case of fire. As a result, the Humboldt Bank Building has standpipes and hoses on all floors. These are served by via pneumatic (not electric) pumps from a water tank in the basement.

Meyer saved his most advanced work for the elevators. Elevators often work as an air column during fires, and can feed a fire very rapidly. Meyer worked to separate the elevator shafts from the rest of the building. First, he completely lined the shafts in concrete. Then he placed “automatic doors” on the top and bottom of the shafts. If fire were to occur, the doors would close, isolating the elevator shafts from the rest of the building.

While the 1906 earthquake and fire were tragic, the lessons learned from the catastrophe spurred design innovation. This is what allows us to continue to enjoy such great buildings as the Humboldt Bank Building.

Humboldt Bank Building [Map]
785 Market Street
San Francisco

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1906 Earthquake, market street

Arts & Culture

03/23/12 5:25pm

Tap This: Celebrating Hinamatsuri

by cindy casey

Untapped San Francisco writer Cindy Casey celebrates Hani Matsuri and all-things Japanese in this week’s Tap This.

What is Hinamatsuri? Hinamatsuri, celebrated in Japan on March 3rd, is also called the Doll Festival or Girl’s Festival. On this day, families with girls wish their daughters a successful and happy life. Hina dolls are displayed in the house together with peach blossoms. The doll festival has its origin in an old custom, in which bad fortune is transferred to dolls and then removed by abandoning the dolls on a river.

What I am eating. Mochi from the following places: Minamoto Kitchoan, available online or in retail (Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, London, Singapore and Shanghai); Benkyodo in San Francisco’s Japantown; and Shuei-Do Manju in San Jose.

What I am listening to. Satomi Saeki’s Japanese Traditional Koto and Shakuhachi Music, Enka Music by Fuyumi Sakamoto, love songs by Noriyuki Makihara or just plain fun stuff from Funkey Monkey Babys.

What I am reading. IQ84 by Haruki Murakami. And since I write Untapped SF architecture column, Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings by Edward S. Morse is always close at hand.

My favorite website for all of this. Jlist, a great place to learn about Japanese customs from an American living abroad, or just to find quirky Japanese products not readily available stateside.

Follow Untapped Cities on Twitter and Facebook. Get in touch with the author @PQPP3.

Architecture

03/16/12 3:30pm

Architecture Spotlight: The Granite Lady

by cindy casey

The United States Mint in San Francisco, affectionately known as the Granite Lady, stands today as a result of the California Gold Rush.

When gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, the great gold rush began, and with it, a need for financial institutions. A mint was necessary to convert the miners’ gold into coins. Without a mint in California, all gold was shipped to Philadelphia for coining, a dangerous and expensive effort. On July 8, 1852, President Millard Fillmore signed an act authorizing the building of a mint in the state of California. The California legislature approved a resolution on April 9, 1852, that this new institution, The Federal Mint, be placed in San Francisco.

The first San Francisco mint opened in 1854 on Commercial Street. Unfortunately, it proved inadequate, especially after the discovery of silver in Nevada’s Comstock Lode. A larger building was needed.

On February 5, 1867, the lot at the corner of Mission and Fifth streets was purchased for $100,000. An additional $300,000 was allotted for the building, but the actual final cost of the building was $2.1 million.

Gold and silver vaults

Supervising architect of the Treasury Department, Alfred B. Mullett, designed the building in the Greek Revival Style-often used for federal buildings. Greek Revival structures are characterized by architectural elements reminiscent of classic Greek temples.

The foundation of the Mint consists of four-foot thick granite blocks from the Griffith Quarry in Penryn, California. The granite is interlaced with 2-inch iron bars. This not only gives the mint a sound footing for earthquakes but also deters any would-be tunnel-digging thieves. (The cornerstone of the building is still a mystery. Reportedly laid during a Masonic ceremony and filled with gold coins struck at the Mint, neither the stone nor the coins have ever been found.)

Above the granite, the building is clad in sandstone from Newcastle Island in British Columbia.

When entering the building you walk through six sandstone hexastyle Doric columns holding up a simplified entablature with an undecorated pediment and a frieze with triglyphs: all elements that typify the Greek Revival Style.

The vaults are on the ground floor. They line both sides of a central corridor and were used to store coins made of gold and silver. In the late nineteenth century, paper currency was a rarity this far west.

The main floor holds the only room the public was allowed to enter. This was the Public Office of the Mint. Here business was transacted under the watchful eye of guards patrolling above on a highly ornamented catwalk. This floor also housed the Gold Ingot Room, the Gold Vault and the Stamping Room (where the coins were made).

Beautifully ornamented brass lighting fixtures are the only decoration in the building outside of the Public Office.

$60 million in Chinese silver dollars stacked and guarded. July 14, 1936. (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

The San Francisco Mint held a highly esteemed place in the United States Treasury. In 1877 alone, the San Francisco Mint produced $50 million worth of coins. During the 1930s, more than one million came through the receiving rooms, and in 1934 one third of the entire country’s gold was housed in the San Francisco Mint.

The Mint rode out the earthquake of 1906 with very limited damage. Employees with hoses saved it from the fire.

In 1961, the San Francisco Mint was declared a landmark; in 1969, it was declared a surplus government building.

Silver delivery. August 31, 1934 (Photo credit: San Francisco Public Library)

The Mint underwent a small restoration in 1972, and the Treasury kept a small office there. In 1998, the Mint was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1994, the U.S. Treasury closed the building for seismic and security reasons. The Granite Lady sat empty, her sandstone slowly eroding.

In 2003, the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society was granted a 66-year lease and began a drive to restore the Granite Lady. It is estimated that the renovation will take $90 million. Phase I, at a cost of $13 million has been completed, and funds are being raised for Phase II. At the end of Phase II, the building will be partially open to the public.

The Mint is available for private parties, and is opened once a year by the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society for a History Expo.

The San Francisco Mint [Map]
88 Fifth Street
San Francisco, CA

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history

Architecture

03/09/12 12:06pm

Architecture Spotlight: Levi’s Plaza, An Urban Version of the “Sierras”

by cindy casey

In 1982, the Haas family (heirs to Levi Strauss) were looking to build a new corporate campus for the Levi Corporation. They called upon Lawrence Halprin to design the plaza for the campus. While prolific, Halprin is best known for Sea Ranch in California and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C. Sometimes referred to as “Modernism’s Olmsted,” Halprin is one of the most celebrated landscape architects of the late-20th and early-21st century.

From the beginning, the Haas family requested that the company’s values be incorporated into the design. They desired a “sensitivity to detailing and high standards of workmanship” and expressed the following sentiments: “monumental architecture is not our style,” “The Plaza too should be distinctive,” and “Quality never goes out of style.”

Halprin divided his design for Levi Plaza’s five acres into two parts: a hard park and a soft park. The hard park is similar to a European plaza. The soft park was described by Halprin as a “transplanted piece of the Sierras.” In part, this is in homage to Levi Strauss himself, who got his start selling riveted, denim work pants to miners in the Sierra Nevada.

The soft park is an open space easily accessible to anyone that chooses to enter. This portion of Levi Plaza fills a triangular lot surrounded by The Embarcadero, and Battery and Union streets.

This “transplanted Sierras” includes open water, fountains and attractive nuisances (anything on a premises that might attract children into danger or harm) that would not work in another environment. Thanks to 24-hour, 365-day security, this type of appealing, open design is allowed to exist in an urban environment. Unlike public parks that are funded by tax payers and subject to public use-be it for picnics or protests like OWS-Levi’s Plaza has an autonomy that comes with private funding.

A waterfall at the end of the park is a well recognized fixture of Halprin’s designs. This waterfall flows into a gentle stream that snakes throughout the park. Lined with granite boulders that act like sculpture, the stream is caressed by artificially constructed grassy burms sheltering the visitor from noises that emanate from the streets surrounding the park.

When the park ran $4 million over budget, the Haas family chose to pay for it out of their own personal funds. They have also made provisions to keep the park maintained in perpetuity.

Levi Plaza [Map]
1155 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA

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Architecture

03/02/12 12:41pm

Architecture Spotlight: Classical Elegance with a French Twist

by cindy casey

111 Sutter Street, or the Hunter Dulin Building, is a terra-cotta clad building modeled on a French château. This 22-story French Romanesque building is topped with a 38-foot high mansard roof sporting both dormers and gables.

The building was designed by New York architecture firm Shultze and Weaver for Los Angeles brokerage house Hunter Dulin. When it was built in 1927, it was the fourth-highest building in San Francisco. Shultze and Weaver were known for such American icons as the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, the Biltmore in Los Angeles and the Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. It is rumored that 111 Sutter Street cost well in excess of one million dollars.

The main office shaft of 111 Sutter is clad in a finely glazed terra cotta. It’s Romanesque-ness is emphasized with such features as the grand entryway arches and the vaulted lobby. The French portion is demonstrated by the château ornamentation and the set back at the top of this shaft that is crowned with a mansard roof.

The building is a steel-frame construction built on a reinforced concrete sheet piling system. To speed up the construction process, the concrete foundation was laid in a 44-hour continuous pour.

Mercury by Leo Lentelli (1879–1961)

The National Broadcast Company (NBC) used 111 Sutter for their West Coast headquarters from 1927 to 1942. According to Dashiell Hammett scholars, 111 Sutter also housed the fictional offices of Sam Spade.

During the 1970s, San Francisco passed building codes requiring that, for earthquake purposes, all exterior ornamentation must be attached securely to the building. During this time, ornamentation throughout the city was simply removed as a more cost-efficient way of complying with the new laws. Most likely, this was when 20 copper spires that topped the roof of 111 Sutter were removed.

The building underwent a $23 million restoration between 1999 and 2001. At this time the building was seismically upgraded, and modern telecommunications systems were added. What the casual visitor will notice, however, is the restoration of the marble entrance and the elevator lobby. The restoration brought an old-time glamour back to the building. Even the bathrooms were given classic wood doors and antique tile walls. At the time, replacing the copper spires atop the building proved cost prohibitive. However, they were eventually restored in 2005-at an additional cost of $450,000, giving this beauty the crown she so deserved.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1997, 111 Sutter stands as a majestic remembrance of an unusual and yet elegant architectural style.

111 Sutter Street [Map]
San Francisco, California

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history

Architecture

02/24/12 2:10pm

Architecture Spotlight: Art Deco’s Mayan Revival

by cindy casey

450 Sutter Street is San Francisco’s monument to the Mayan Revival branch of Art Deco.

Art Deco draws on a variety of sources including Art Nouveau, Cubism and the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Art Deco celebrates the technological wonders of the early 20th century, the frivolities of the roaring twenties, and the hard times of the Great Depression.

Art Deco is commonly divided into three related design trends: Streamline Moderne, Classical Moderne and Zigzag Moderne. Zigzag, represented by angular patterns and stylized geometry, flourished in large cities and was primarily used for public and commercial buildings.

The Mayan Revival (also called neo-Mayan) was one of the facets of Zigzag Moderne. Mayan Revival was used primarily in the 1920s and ’30s. Although it was named “Mayan,” it drew on the motifs of many of the Meso-American cultures, such as Mexica and Aztec.

450 Sutter Street, completed in 1929, was designed by James Rupert Miller and Timothy L. Pflueger. A steel curtain-wall building, 450 Sutter broke from tradition with the building’s skin design. Miller and Pflueger covered the 26 floors with heavy Mayan Revival style patterns-undulating verticals of ornamented terracotta run from the first floor to the roof. The addition of horizontal bands of windows adds to the overall effect of richness and complexity. The street level and entry are cast in aluminum. In the lobby, cast bronze alternates with Burgundy/Levanto marble.

The building was designed and built for dental salesman Francis Edward Morgan Jr. at a cost of $5 million (including the land). The building was built specifically to house doctors’ and dentists’ offices. According to advertisements, offices could be custom outfitted with electrical and plumbing as the tenant needed. Rents began at $50 a month for three rooms and $100 a month for five. At the time of its construction, it was not only the second tallest building in San Francisco, but said to be the largest medical office building in the world.

The unusual motifs and ornamentation of this grand building received mixed reviews at the time of its opening. The San Francisco Chronicle quieted any discord with the following 1929 review:

“Speculation has been rife as to the meaning of these graceful symbols, but their meaning is negligible-they justify themselves by being graceful and attractive. They give the front of the building just enough feeling of movement to emphasize the general vitality of a severe but thoroughly virile design. They tell the passerby any story he chooses to read into them-and that is poetry.”

450 Sutter was one of the last great skyscrapers to be built in San Francisco in the first half of the century.

Cast bronze and cast aluminum lobby ceiling