Beaux Arts vs Blah Arts

I was standing outside the Apple store on Stockton at Ellis waiting for the traffic light to change when I noticed these two tower buildings. From this angle they seemed to be in harmony. From any other angle the Marriott Hotel on 4th Street is hideous. The Marriott is no better on the inside either (although the toilets were clean).

The older building is the Humboldt Savings Bank Building, which was in the early stages of construction when the earthquake hit on April 18th 1906. The Beaux Arts Humboldt was redesigned, and it was considered one of the most earthquake and fire resistant San Francisco buildings when it was completed in 1908.

There are two dates on the font of the building. 1869 when the bank was established, and 1906 when construction of this building restarted after the Great Earthquake.


Categories:Architecture San Francisco