Public Art in San Francissco – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Lincoln Park Steps

Posted by Cindy on August 10, 2015

Aug 102015

Lincoln Park
End of California Street

Lincoln Park was dedicated to President Lincoln in 1909. At the terminus of California street just past 32nd Avenue sits the Lincoln Park Steps. These steps date to the time of the park and were the access for the surrounding neighborhood. If you simply sit on the benches at the top of the hill you can enjoy views of downtown and fog permitting, the East Bay hills.

A photo from the early days of the area

In 2007 Friends of Lincoln Park began a campaign to have the stairs structurally supported and brought back to their glory days.

With the help of the San Francisco Parks Alliance, William Duff Architects and BV builders the stairs sit more elegantly than ever.

Artist Aileen Barr, who has been on this website many times for her tile stairways and other tile work around San Francisco, was the lead artist on the project.

From left: Riley Dotey, Phylece Snyder and Aileen Barr

From left: Riley Doty, Aileen Barr and Phylece Snyder

She was aided in her efforts with tile setters Riley Doty and Phylece Snyder. The tiles, stamped periodically with the names of the project’s donors and sponsors, came from Fireclay Tile and Heath Ceramics.

The project was done in two parts.

Phase 1 consisted of the structural improvements and art tiles for the top bench and retaining wall. This phase was completed in 2010. You can see pictures and read about that phase here.

Phase 2 included the structural repair and tile placement to the stairs, pillars and midway benches. The cost of the structural repairs was funded in part by a grant given to Friends of Lincoln Park for $180,000 from the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, Community Opportunity Fund. The grant was contingent on the success of Friends of Lincoln Park to raise private funds of at least $250,000 to cover the cost of the art tiles and installation

Visit Aileen Barr’s website for a larger view of her work.

450 Sutter, A Mayan Palace

Posted by Cindy on December 22, 2012

Dec 222012

450 Sutter Street is San Francisco’s monument to the Mayan Revival branch of Art Deco.

Art Deco draws on a variety of sources including Art Nouveau, Cubism and the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Art Deco celebrates the technological wonders of the early 20th century, the frivolities of the roaring twenties, and the hard times of the Great Depression.

Art Deco is commonly divided into three related design trends: Streamline Moderne, Classical Moderne and Zigzag Moderne. Zigzag, represented by angular patterns and stylized geometry, flourished in large cities and was primarily used for public and commercial buildings.

The Mayan Revival (also called neo-Mayan) was one of the facets of Zigzag Moderne. Mayan Revival was used primarily in the 1920s and ’30s. Although it was named “Mayan,” it drew on the motifs of many of the Meso-American cultures, such as Mexica and Aztec.

450 Sutter Street, completed in 1929, was designed by James Rupert Miller and Timothy L. Pflueger. A steel curtain-wall building, 450 Sutter broke from tradition with the building’s skin design. Miller and Pflueger covered the 26 floors with heavy Mayan Revival style patterns-undulating verticals of ornamented terracotta run from the first floor to the roof. The addition of horizontal bands of windows adds to the overall effect of richness and complexity. The street level and entry are cast in aluminum. In the lobby, cast bronze alternates with Burgundy/Levanto marble.

The building was designed and built for dental salesman Francis Edward Morgan Jr. at a cost of $5 million (including the land). The building was built specifically to house doctors’ and dentists’ offices. According to advertisements, offices could be custom outfitted with electrical and plumbing as the tenant needed. Rents began at $50 a month for three rooms and $100 a month for five. At the time of its construction, it was not only the second tallest building in San Francisco, but said to be the largest medical office building in the world.

The unusual motifs and ornamentation of this grand building received mixed reviews at the time of its opening. The San Francisco Chronicle quieted any discord with the following 1929 review:

“Speculation has been rife as to the meaning of these graceful symbols, but their meaning is negligible-they justify themselves by being graceful and attractive. They give the front of the building just enough feeling of movement to emphasize the general vitality of a severe but thoroughly virile design. They tell the passerby any story he chooses to read into them-and that is poetry.”

450 Sutter was one of the last great skyscrapers to be built in San Francisco in the first half of the century.

Cast bronze and cast aluminum lobby ceiling

Cast aluminum elevator doors surrounded by burgundy/levanto marble