Stewart Bloom
Market, Geary and Kearney Street
San Francisco circa 1911
| The major buildings, identified from
left to right:
On Market Street is the three-part William Curlett design of the Mutual Savings Bank Building (now 1st Nationwide Bank). Built in 1902, it was rebuilt as originally designed after the 1906 earthquake and fire. The Flannery Building ("Easy Dental Parlor) was designed by the architects Stone and Smith and built in 1906. (Harry P. Flannery was a liquor distributor.) The building was the first reinforced concrete office building built in the downtown fire area after 1906, according to a 1906 Architect and Engineer article. The building was demolished in 1963 for an addition to Mutual Bank building mentioned above. Across Geary Street is a small 1908 (United Cigars") building around which is built the 1908 "L" shaped Schmidt Building. Neither architect is known. On Geary Street with stacked vertical composition and tiers of terra cotta pilasters is the 1908 steel framed Rosenstock Building, designed by architect Albert Pissis. Further up Geary you can see the hip roofed 1906 Whittell Building. The architect was the firm of Shea and Shea. The building was under construction on April 18,1906 and suffered little earthquake or fire damage. It was to be "the first steel building erected in the world," according to the Architect and Engineer. Behind the Whittell Building is a corner of the 1907 rebuilt Saint Francis Hotel designed by architects Bliss and Faville. In the foreground is Lotta's Fountain built in 1875 with a bequest from Lotta Crabtree, and designed by Wyneken and Townsend. In 1915 the cast iron shaft of the fountain was lengthened by eight feet to be more sympathetic with the design of the new Market Street streetlights. The Geary Street cable car line in the center of the photograph ran until May 5, 1912. On December 28 of the same year, just 237 days later, it was replaced by the A and B street car lines, with new track and overhead power lines. The Chronicle building, by architects Burnham and Root in the Romanesque Chicago School design, was built in 1889 and still stands, although it is not recognizable because of it's 1962 remodeling. The exact date of the photo and the photographer's identity are not known. The picture was dated with the help of The Foundation for San Francisco's Architectural Heritage and The Market Street Railway Association. The May 5,1912 cable car date and the Rosenstock Building's completion in 1908 put outside limits on the date of the photo. The "Easy Dental Parlors" in the Flannery building first appears in the August 1911 issue of the CrockerLangley City Directory. Hence the date of Circa 1911. Copyright © The Foundation for San Francisco's Architectural Heritage. A non-profit member-supported organization dedicated to the preservation of architecturally, historically and culturally significant structures in San Francisco. For information, call (415) 441-3000. |
