Bank of Italy

I have purposely kept this building as the last for Bliss & Faville..  One reason being that it is probably the best known of their works if only because generations of tourists have stood at its feet as they waited for a Powell Street Cable Car, and thousands of commuters pass through the adjacent Powell Street Station for BART and Muni daily.

The white granite building began life as the Bank of Italy, the second headquarters of the institution that would become the Bank of America.  It was commissioned by the Bank's founder A. P. Giannini in 1920.

In recent years it has undergone a transformation, another successful example of adaptive re-use.  There is still a B of A branch in the basement, and the first floor is retail, currently selling young women's clothes.  The upper floors have been adapted to luxury condominiums. 

The other reason I have saved this one for last is because of its bigger neighbor...the best known work by our next architect, starting tomorrow.

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Geary Theater

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The Geary Theater is one of two works by Bliss & Faville on the National Historic Register ( the Matson Building is the other).  It was one of eight legitimate theaters built in the years immediately following 1906.  San Francisco had always loved its theater and was starved for shows in the aftermath of the disaster.

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Opening in 1910 as the Columbia Theater, through many seasons and several name changes it has hosted many of the great lights of the American Stage:  Catherine Cornell, Frederic March, Cornelia Otis Skinner, the Lunts and Ethel Barrymore to name just a few.  Since 1967 it has been home to the American Conservatory Theater company and has borne that ensemble's name since 2006.

The 1989 Loma Prieta Quake caused the proscenium to collapse, taking with it the light rail, several rows of seats and a portion of the roof.  $2 million plus in restoration later it is again considered one of the country's finest. 

And about this terra cotta... 

If you are building a Public Library or a Corporate HQ, I guess you have to be just a little reserved.  Taxpayers and Boards of Directors expect frugality.  When it comes to a theater though, people expect a show.

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University Club

In contrast to the Metropolitan Club of a few days ago, the University Club is a gentleman's club.  It also occupies a prime location on the shoulder of Nob Hill, across from the Fairmont hotel at the busy crossing of the Powell and California Cable Car lines.  It must enjoy quite a view.  It was completed in 1915.

Like the Metropolitan club, this one presents a slightly seedy exterior to the world, but I guess that is just what town clubs do.

I especially like the brickwork on this one.

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Intermission - Arguello Gate

I am a little behind on post processing of photos so I have retrieved these photos from the archives.

The arrangements that frame the Arguello Avenue entrance to Golden Gate Park have long been favorites of mine.  It is only recently that I became aware that they were created by Bliss & Faville. 

They were created for the 1915 Golden Gate Exposition in part because Arguello was a primary route from the Fair venue in what is now the Marina District to the Park.

There has been some damage to the sandstone and the terra cotta is murky with auto exhaust.  It would be wonderful if they could be restored for their centennial.

Perhaps I should write the mayor. 

Matson Building

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The Matson Building was completed in 1924 as headquarters for the company that is still a major player in freight shipping in the Western Pacific, although its glory days of luxury passenger service to Hawaii are past.

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As with many Bliss & Faville buildings there was extensive use of decorative terra cotta.  In this case a glossy bone color with highlights in a lovely sea blue.  I think it is this blue, combined with the variety of nautical elements in the decoration, and the splendid little cupola that makes it my favorite of their works.

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Richmond District Library

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The Public Library  Branch in the Inner Richmond, a neighborhood on the West Side of San Francisco was built in 1914.  It was one of about 3500 libraries built in the U.S. and elsewhere funded by seed money from Andrew Carnegie's Trust.  It was the first to be built in San Francisco and the only one by Bliss & Faville. 

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I really wasn't expecting much when I visited this site but was pleasantly surprised.  The architects had set it on the top of a hill in the center of the property. It also has benefited from a 2009 renovation that included the accessibility ramps, and stair rails, 4000 additional square feet at the back of the property, and the inevitable (for this region) seismic retrofit.

At the same time the integrity of the original design was retained and they no doubt cleaned up the Colusa Sandstone cladding and the gorgeous polychrome terra cotta. 

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Metropolitan Club

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The Metropolitan Club was founded in 1915 as the Women's Athletic Club. Apparently almost immediately they commissioned Bliss & Faville to design this building for them as it was completed the following year.

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It is a stately building, with an almost residential character about it and handsome enough, although I was a bit disappointed.  One expects private clubs to try not to attract undue attention from the hoi polloi.  And I understand that traditional Ladies Clubs are struggling these days to maintain membership, so perhaps money's short.  And it may look like a bandbox inside...

Nevertheless, the building looked like it needed a good cleaning.

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State Office Building

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On the North side of Civic Center Plaza stands the State Office Building.  Completed in 1926, it was the last commission in the city by the team of Bliss & Faville (although not the last I have to present).   

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To my mind it is what a government building should be: imposing but restrained, classical in proportion but human in scale. 

The contemporary addition that rises behind is respectful and serves a useful purpose in obscuring the ghastly Federal lump in the next block. 

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