ARCHITECTURE

Hibernia Bank Entrance - Built 1892, Survivor of 2 major earthquakes - For SF Architectural Heritage

Hibernia Bank 1892 - For SF Architectural Heritage

Hibernia Bank Safe - For SF Architectural Heritage

The Cooper Union - New York

Hearst Memorial Mining Building - Berkeley

San Francisco Art Institute | Diego Rivera Mural

Hobart Building No.2 - For SF Architectural Heritage

City of Paris, Rotunda | San Francisco

After an impassioned fight to save Union Square’s City of Paris, the iconic Beaux Arts department store was torn down in 1981. Only its rotunda and glass dome were spared, now encased in glass as a highly provocative entry feature for the granite-covered box designed by Philip Johnson. A conspicuous and controversial example of spolia, the Neiman Marcus building could nonetheless find itself in the ironic position of being deemed “historic” in the future for its association with the legendary architect.

Original architects: John Bakewell and Arthur J. Brown (1896 and 1909)
Contemporary architect: Philip Johnson (1982)

Once a derelict urban alley, Mint Plaza is nestled between the Old Mint and several historic warehouses. The space has been transformed into a lively public plaza and cultural venue. A simple ground plane unifies the plaza, while a steel arbor balances the towering warehouses to the north and the lower neoclassical facade of the Mint building to the south. The climbing vines on the arbor bring extensive greenery to the heart of the plaza and provide a canopy for al fresco diners.

Contemporary Architect: CMG Landscape Architecture (2008)