Downtown San Francisco Architectural Walking Tour

Date and Time for this Past Event

• Saturday, Oct 19, 2024  10:30am - 12:30pm

Location

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Details

Join us for a stroll through Downtown SF's Central Business District to admire the stunning architecture!

Downtown San Francisco Central Business District Architectural Walking Tour.

Let's develop our understanding of the history and development of San Francisco's Central Business District. We'll identify building clusters such as the 3rd and Market "Newspaper Angle" also known as "Cape Horn" for the strong winds caused by the position of the streets and buildings here.

How architectural styles are used as ways of dating periods of capital investment. We'll be touring the government and private builders’ use of seven architectural styles and their peak dates of use:

1. Beaux Arts classicism (l890-1920s).
2. Art Deco (1920s-early 1930s).
3. International Style Modernism (1950s-1960s).
4. Late Modernism (1970s).
5. Post-Modernism (1980s-early 1990s).
6. Neo-Constructivism (1990s) with emphasis on scrims & screens.
7. Neo-International (2000s-2010s).

To cap off our tour we'll visit the Vertical City, a new exhibition of tall building, architectural models, of buildings by Norman Foster and Foster + Partners opened at the newly refurbished Transamerica Pyramid.

"The skyscraper is emblematic of the modern age city (and is a reminder that the city is arguably civilization’s greatest invention). A vertical community, well served by public transport, can be a model of sustainability."

Exhibit list of projects on display:

1. Transamerica Pyramid Masterplan, San Francisco
2. Office building for New Haven (designed by Norman Foster at Yale)
3. Century Tower, Tokyo
4. Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Hong Kong
5. Millennium Tower, Tokyo
6. Commerzbank Tower, Frankfurt
7. 30 St Mary Axe, London
8. Hearst Tower, New York
9. Deutsche Bank Place, Sydney
10. National Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City
11. 425 Park Avenue, New York
12. Comcast Technology Center, Philadelphia
13. Oceanwide Center, San Francisco
14. 270 Park Avenue, New York

(Pictured above the Chronicle Bldg. at 690 Market St., built in 1890)
Meet in front of 690 Market St., The deYoung Bldg., near the corner of Kearny & Market Sts. West side of Market St.

Downtown San Francisco Architectural Walking Tour
Dr. Alec Stewart, USF, adopted the tour guide we're using for the tour, from earlier guides by Dr. Paul Groth (former Professor of Geography and Architecture at UC Berkeley) and Dr. Seth Lunine (Lecturer in Geography at UC Berkeley).

To take a Chinese dining adventure after the tour the terrific House of Nan King is waiting for us on Kearny St.