The plans to rehab Saint Joseph’s Church at 1401 Howard Street, and convert the Western SoMa building into a high-tech office space, with a restaurant and 2,500-square-foot assembly hall in its parish and rectory, were approved by San Francisco’s Planning Commission early last year.
The construction crew is now inside the church. And according to a tipster, they’re currently expecting to be there for a year.
Following a seismic upgrade to the church, which has been vacant since damaged by the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, a freestanding interior mezzanine will be added in wings while the sanctuary space will remain relatively open, designed with tech tenants in mind.
Originally designed by John J. Foley and built in 1913, St. Joseph’s is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated San Francisco City Landmark #120. And while the parish was predominantly Irish at the onset, it primarily served a Filipino parish when it closed.
The property was purchased from the Roman Catholic Church by developer Chris Foley in 2008.
It would be nice if they incorporated a publicly accessible gallery/exhibit honoring the building’s history.
Man that would be a terrible office. It would feel like going to an old jesuit prep school.
maybe they could incorporate an Inquisition-era torture chamber for those not generating TEH CODE fast enough?
Nuns with rulers walking around whacking the knuckles of anyone on facebook?
Did anyone notice that there aren’t any overweight models? #ifyoulookforit
FINALLY. I’ve been waiting years for this thing to happen.
This would be so amazing at a night club / music venue kind of place – oh well
Hey, at least we get The Armory.
“Praise the Lord and Pass the Ping Pong Paddle!!” I guess.
Short of retaining this as a place of worship – presumably unfeasible – this option doesn’t seem any worse than any other.
(The mezzanine looks not so much “freestanding” as “levitating”, but perhaps some liberties were taken in the rendering.)
Looks like Newton is winning.
“Looks like Newton is winning.”
What does this mean exactly?
It’s a mystery wrapped in a riddle.
Because of his secrecy over his religious beliefs, Newton has been described as a Nicodemite. According to most scholars, Newton was Arian, not holding to Trinitarianism. ‘In Newton’s eyes, worshipping Christ as God was idolatry, to him the fundamental sin’.
Newton wasn’t a standard chrsitian, but he was hugely religous/spiriual. He analyzed the bible relentlessly. He probably believed in the “heavenly father” as described by Jesus, and arians still consider Jesus a prophet, and thus highly value his teachings. I doubt Newton would be pleased by the closing. Now Paul Dirac and Carl Sagan are different stories altogether. Perhaps Dirac and Sagan are winning.
I meant “pleased by the closing of this church. Now Paul Dirac…”
I’m an engineer, and there are a of engineers that worship themselves and their favorite scientists and their favorite inventions. They just don’t realize they are doing it.
I’m not pleased at converting a beautiful church into another company making social media games. I’d rather develop empty parking lots. Oh well.
Who could have any problem with this outcome? The building is preserved and used and peopled… in an ideal world our $9 Billion dollar city budget would include funds to have made this a multi-disciplinary arts space, but the city wouldn’t even cough up money to maintain the sidewalks. So more power to y’all for stepping up…
The building is not preserved. The exterior is preserved (though altered with the removal of the windows).
Yes, the exterior is preserved. There is no feasible way to perfectly preserve the interior (though major interior elements will be preserved) as this would mean the building could only be used as either a place of worship or a museum.
By all means, if you have the funds to purchase the building, construct a seismic retrofit, and then a plan to operare it either as a public place of worshiper or a museum, go ahead.
Otherwise, office space is a fine reuse of the space.
My first thought cause I’m a jaded 30 something was “stupid idea.” But now that I look at it more it’s spectacular.
It’s great that a wonderful building is being preserved and put to use. As a secular humanist/athiest though, I can’t help but see this as proof that god might be dead. The soaring vaults that once exalted a ‘creator’, now will exalt some app, website, or platform. If ever a building needed lightning insurance, this would be it.
There are these things called “lightning rods” that safely conduct the energy from the sky to the ground–what a concept! But with the few thunderstorms that roll through San Francisco, I doubt you would ever need one.
The end is nigh.
Great news to see this building and intersection come back to life.
Fantastic news. I live close by and the place was a magnet for all kinds of “people behaving badly”.
A gathering place for the new religion, worship of Saint Steve Jobs
The cathedral has already been consecrated; this would have to be a parish church.
all roads lead to Cupertino
The building is surrounded by pools of urine.
Tech is the new religion.
I was in the space after the church closed – what a mess. The interior is plaster & fake marble. It will take a lot of work to make this a space that is usable again. The organ pipes were still in the loft a few years ago. Look at the steeples & you will see the tops are falling apart.
The CC could not afford to make the building safe from earthquakes.
Does anyone know if this project is being designed by Ken Fulk and his design team and if the space will lean more towards special events rather than office space?