APRIL 5, 1913: Construction began on San Francisco’s fourth and present-day City Hall.
When San Francisco was incorporated in 1850, a City Hall was erected at Kearny and Pacific. It was a three story building with a modest bell tower that butted up alongside the Saloon El Dorado (a hotel and gambling resort). Just a year later a devastating fire ripped through the City, burning City Hall to the ground[1A]. For a year City government offices were scattered throughout the City while officials tried to find new space. They ultimately decided to buy the Jenny Lind Theater at the corner of Washington and Kearny. The theater was first built in 1850 and also burned down in the 1851 fire. But owner Tom Maguire was able to rebuild the theater within six months. A magnificent four story stone structure that could seat 2,000, it was the largest building in the City. The City bought the Jenny Lind Theater for use as City Hall in 1852. Citizens were so outraged at the $200,000 price tag that they tried to get the purchase nullified. The case went all the way to the California Supreme Court, which ruled the purchase valid. The walls of the theater remained standing, but the interior was completely stripped and repurposed for a more utilitarian setting.
Unfortunately, by 1871 City Hall had outgrown its space. Plans were drawn up for a new City Hall brick complex consisting of a massive domed main structure with a domed extension building that would become the Hall of Records. Because of continuous problems, it took 29 years to build. My great grandmother, Annie Keenan Matlock[1], was a flaming redhead, and boys would follow her to school chanting “another brick for City Hall!”
The San Francisco Chronicle[2] kept daily tallies on every construction failure. Firstly, the site (today the location of the San Francisco Main Library[3] and the UN Plaza[4]) was built over a graveyard. In preparation for building, coffins were supposedly relocated to Colma, but bodies kept being dug up. By 1889, 70 bodies had been discovered. There were outrageously expensive bronze gas lights that had to be completely reconfigured because electricity was invented during the long construction process. Floors didn’t match up. Fireplace chimneys did not draw smoke up and out. And when the building finally opened in 1899, there was a horrible sewage smell that permeated the building and never went away.
When the 1906 Earthquake hit on the morning of April 18th[5], the entire building, with the exception of the main building’s dome and steel frame, came tumbling down. Citizens were shocked at the utter devastation of the complex, and it was later revealed that crooked politicians had hired shady contractors who used inferior materials. One of the main building’s wings, for example, had supporting walls made of hollow bricks.
Construction on the present-day City Hall began in 1913, two blocks away from the previous site. The architect, Arthur Brown, was also responsible for designing the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House[6], the Veterans Building, Temple Emanu El[7] and Coit Tower[8]. It was completed in time for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition[9], and officially opened on July 28, 1916. It is a four story Beaux-Art monument that occupies two City blocks between Van Ness, Grove, Polk and McAllister. There is 500,000 square feet of open space and its 307.5 foot dome is taller than that on the US Capital by 19 feet. It has a granite exterior and sandstone interior with a grand marble staircase and marble embellishments. Most of the statuary is of prior mayors.
Before the 1960s City Hall’s outdoor plaza consisted of individual brick plazas with ponds and fountains. When the plaza was excavated to make way for underground parking, a rectangular water fountain with groves of trees planted in rectangular grids was installed.
City Hall was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake[10] in which, amongst other things, the dome had twisted on its base four inches. The building was retrofitted and restored to its original splendor, reopening in 1999. The plaza pond was removed.
Today City Hall is the seat for both the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco County’s Superior Court, which had been located within City Hall prior to the Loma Prieta quake, was moved in 1997 to 400 McAllister.
City Hall was closed from March 2020 – June 2021 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
[1] Annie Keenan Matlock: story coming October 22nd
[2] San Francisco Chronicle: story coming January 16th
[3] San Francisco Main Library: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4605
[4] UN Plaza: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3424
[5] 1906 Earthquake and Fires: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=2849
[6] War Memorial Opera House: story coming December 24th
[7] Temple Emanu El: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4291
[8] Coit Tower: story coming October 8th
[9] 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition: story coming February 20th
[10] Loma Prieta Earthquake: story coming October 17th
