Mayor Ed Lee has declared today “Hallidie Building Day,” celebrating a successful two-year restoration of the formerly deteriorating Hallidie Building at 130 Sutter Street.
Designed by Willis Polk and built in 1918 as an investment property for the University of California, the building is named for Andrew Hallidie, a University of California regent and inventor of the cable car.
The Hallidie Building’s steel and glass facade is one of the first examples of modern curtain wall design, the structural and decorative elements for which have been re-painted with the blue and gold Cal colors as originally specified by Polk.
∙ Heads-Up Near The Hallidie Building (130 Sutter) [SocketSite]
∙ Sorry Cardinal, But Let’s Hear It For The Blue And Gold… [SocketSite]
Stunning, truly a historic building worthy of preservation.
I first learned about this building and the architect on a pretty great tour with Rick Evans.
Im happy to see this came out so nicely.
a truly beautiful structure
Nice to see this restoration done. I expect that in the process they changed the materials/techniques to prevent the corrosion that required restoration in the first place. Here’s hoping the building lasts at least a century until its next facelift.
Gorgeous.
Fantastic.
Ironic that CEQA and the specious arguments for compatibility proffered by Planning and neighborhood groups would preclude the creation of such a landmark today.
“the glass curtain wall is not compatible with the character-defining attributes of the district. Declined!”
Go Bears!
In a way, it could be a new post-modern building. It’s a curtain wall with classic elements at the top and bottom.
It’s a very strange (but beautiful) transitional building. The curtain wall was futuristic at the time, but they still needed the wedding cake decorations to feel comfortable with it. From our point of view now, the glass is what looks “normal” and the ornamentation is special, but to them it was the opposite.