Hallidie Building
National Register of Historic Places

Hallidie Building

San Francisco, San Francisco County, California
Listed
November 19, 1971
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
71000185

About this property

The Hallidie Building is an office building in the Financial District of San Francisco, California, at 130 Sutter Street, between Montgomery Street and Kearny Street. Designed by architect Willis Polk and named in honor of San Francisco cable car pioneer Andrew Smith Hallidie, it opened in 1918. The building is noted especially for its glass facade, symmetrical fire escapes and ornate iron work. The building is one of the country’s first glass curtain walls. While the seven-story building was predated by Louis Curtiss’s 1909 Boley Clothing Company building in Kansas City, Missouri, it is unclear which buildings, if any, served as inspiration for Polk other than The Crystal Palace. In 1971, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors made the building a historic monument after a bank was considering replacing it with a much taller building. The building underwent a two-year restoration, which was completed in April 2013, after its sheet metal friezes, cornices, balconies, and fire escapes were deemed unsafe by the City of San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection. The San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects opened the Center for Architecture + Design in the street-level retail space, which predates the rest of the building, adding a gallery, lecture hall, and cafe in 2023.

Location

130 Sutter St.
San Francisco, San Francisco County, California
37.78995, -122.40460

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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The Soldiers
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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Nearby Historic Sites

Mutual Savings Bank Building
Industrial
0 mi
San Francisco Fire Department Engine Co. Number 2
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0.1 mi
City of Paris Building
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0.1 mi
Hunter-Dulin Building
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0.1 mi
Lotta Crabtree Fountain
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0.2 mi

Questions about this property

When was Hallidie Building listed on the National Register?

Hallidie Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 19, 1971.

What type of historic resource is Hallidie Building?

Hallidie Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Hallidie Building?

The period of significance for Hallidie Building is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1909.

Can I research the history near Hallidie Building?

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