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Central Tower (San Francisco)
Commercial offices in San Francisco, California From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Central Tower is a 91 m (299 ft) 21-story office building at Market and Third Streets in San Francisco, California. It was built in the Beaux-Arts style. The building has undergone numerous renovations since its completion in 1898 as the Call Building. It was later known as the Spreckels Building.
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_-_Central_Tower,_San_Francisco.jpg)
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History
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In 1890, M. H. de Young, owner of the San Francisco Chronicle, built San Francisco's first skyscraper, the 218-foot (66 m) Chronicle Building, to house his newspaper. In response, John D. Spreckels and his father Claus Spreckels purchased the San Francisco Call in 1895 and commissioned a tower of their own that would dwarf the Chronicle Building.[3] In September 1895, The Call wrote:
[The Call Building] is to be built on the corner of Market and Third streets, of granite and white marble, and will be fifteen stories — 310 feet high, the highest building this side of Chicago. Unlike the Chronicle building it will be a beautiful building and a credit to its owner, Claus Spreckels, and worthy of the great paper to be printed within its walls. A light granite will be used for the first three stories, but above the third story white marble will be used. The main entrance or rotunda will be finished in some polished California marble, the very choicest obtainable, and the floor will be mosaic.[4]
The building eventually stood 315 feet (96 m) tall with an ornate baroque dome—which housed the offices of Reid & Reid, the building's architects[5]—and four corner cupolas when construction finished in 1897. By the end of 1897, Claus Spreckels had spent over one million dollars on the construction of his new building, nearly every cent of it on local labor and materials.
It's opening with electricity drew attention from across the San Francisco Bay including the East Bay because it was so bright. It could be seen from San Jose. It quickly became a popular tourist attraction.
The structure was badly burned and damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, although the building did not collapse. The collapse of the adjoining Power House during the earthquake may have sparked the fire which burned it. Six months following the Earthquake, the Call was publishing again from the building as restoration continued. Its restoration was seen as a symbol of the reconstruction of San Francisco. In 1913, the newspaper moved out, and the new owners of it allowed it to decline somewhat.
The Call reopened its offices at a new location, The Montgomery, and the former Call Building was renamed the Spreckels Building. In 1937, architect Albert Roller refurbished the structure in a Moderne Art Deco style.[6] The building's height was reduced to 298 feet (91 m), the number of stories was increased from 15 to 21, and the ornate dome and the cupolas atop the building were removed.[7]
In December 2013, Central Tower was acquired by a new owner, and an extensive capital improvement and renovation project has begun to revive the building and ensure that it meets the needs of today's office tenants.
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Reception
The reception to the construction of the then-Call Tower was widely positive. In September 1895, The Call wrote that "The San Francisco Call is to have the finest building ever erected for a newspaper office'. An unknown admirer wrote: "It is, per se, a beautiful building--that is the unanimous verdict. After that it is imposing, magnificent, costly, a pride to San Francisco, a monument to the good taste and enterprise of its owner and builder, Claus Spreckels; the greatest newspaper building in the world, the handsomest of tall buildings, the tallest of the tall buildings west of Chicago--all these things and more; but first, last and all the time, it is the most beautiful building.[8]" Public reaction was overwhelmingly positive.[9] Some of the excitement was based on the idea that the Call Building could be San Francisco's first and only true skyscraper, given the low skylines at the time.
On fire after the 1906 earthquake
Aftermath of the fire
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See also
References
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