Financial District is a neighborhood within San Francisco's 7-mile by 7-mile city limits. It makes up the core of downtown and is composed of about 60 blocks. It features the tallest buildings of the city and the largest concentration of them as well; the skyscrapers are primarily older ones since the area is almost entirely built-out and surrounding permitted heights and historic designations restrict further development. The city's newest skyscrapers are concentrated in the South of Market area adjacent to the Financial District, where lower density and fewer historic designations allow newer large projects. It is surrounded by several other neighborhoods, most of which are considered part of the downtown: to the South is the South of Market area, with the part of it closest to the Financial District acting as an extension of the tall city skyline. Market Street is the dividing line between these two districts, and I consider the buildings on both sides of the street as part of the Financial District. A thin district along the Eastern edge is the Embarcadero, along the San Francisco Bay waterfront. To the North is Telegraph Hill and North Beach; I consider the small area known as Jackson Square to be part of the Financial District on its Northern border. West is Chinatown, and Southwest is Union Square; I consider Kearny Street to be the dividing line between the Financial District and those two areas. The terrain is mostly flat. It is a very busy neighborhood during the week, but on weekends it is rather quiet since a majority of the buildings are offices. However, a mix of some hotels and restaurants and shops and residential buildings helps it avoid becoming a deserted area during those days. The area has both historic and modern edifices; this thread will focus on the modern era while another one will focus on the historic era:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=192867
Skyline:
This view is from Dolores Park; Financial District highrises are mostly in the background, while South of Market highrises are in the center and right side and Union Square highrises are on the left.
Skyline:
View from Russian Hill.
Skyline:
View from Telegraph Hill.
Highrise Street Views:
160 Pine Street, 1956:
Crown Zellerbach Building, 1959:
44 Montgomery, 1967:
Equitable Life Insurance Building, 1955:
Building, ?:
456 Montgomery Plaza, 1985:
One Maritime Plaza, 1964:
Golden Gateway Center, 1965-67:
There are 4 residential towers connected by lowrise residential buildings and pedestrian lanes in this 3-block development.
International Building, 1964 (center right) and Hartford Building, 1965 (left):
Hong Kong Bank Building, 1966:
Holiday Inn (now Hilton San Francisco Financial District), 1971:
This concrete behemoth is on the edge of Chinatown and houses the Chinese Cultural Center; a pedestrian bridge connects it to Portsmouth Square, the largest park in Chinatown.
Bank of California Building, 1967:
Embarcadero Center, 1971-88:
This multi-block complex consists of 4 office towers and 2 hotel towers linked together by a lower multi-level podium composed of shops and restaurants and a movie theater arranged along a series of outdoor pedestrian lanes and plazas and bridges. Large scale 'corporate' sculpture punctuate the spaces. The assemblage is a great example of a variety of spaces treated with consistency over the course of the development. One of its developers was John Portman, and his firm's involvement makes this part of the Financial District feel like the large section of downtown Atlanta that he developed. Despite some minor wayfinding and amenities updates over the years, the entire complex remains a well-maintained timepiece and a textbook example of the era.
Hyatt Regency San Francisco, 1973:
This is one of the two hotels that are part of Embarcadero Center.
Park Hyatt San Francisco (now Le Meridien), 1988:
This is the other hotel at Embarcadero Center and the last part of the complex to be finished.
Justin Herman Plaza:
This large public space is the part of Embarcadero Center that fronts the Embarcadero, the thin district adjoining the Financial District that runs along the San Francisco Bay waterfront. When the plaza was built, an elevated freeway ran behind it and separated it from the waterfront, but after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake the freeway was eventually removed. The large brutalist water feature - Villaincourt Fountain - that turns its back on the waterfront beyond was originally sited to act as a partial screen of the freeway while celebrating its aesthetic. The plaza by Lawrence Halprin was part of his design for the renovation of the adjacent Market Street in the late 60's and early 70's.
Transamerica Pyramid, 1972:
The city's tallest skyscraper at 850 feet tall.
555 California Street, 1969:
This was originally the Bank of America Center. It is the city's second tallest at 779 feet.
388 Market, 1987:
101 California, 1982:
345 California, 1986:
505 Montgomery, 1988:
580 California, 1986:
Citicorp Center Atrium, 1984:
88 Kearny, 1986:
150 California, 2000:
The Financial District has few new highrises; this is one of the most recent.
All photographs taken in 2011 (except a few from 2005-2010) by geomorph.