The week Curbed is celebrating some of the buildings turning the ripe old age of 100 this year. While we may be a relatively new city by the rest of the country's standards, here now are 14 centenarians of 2014.
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Mapping 14 San Francisco Buildings That Turn 100 in 2014
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Carnegie Library Chinatown
Architect: Gustave Albert Lansburgh
Old use: library
Current use: Library
Notes: The Chinatown Branch Carnegie Library, designed in the Italian Renaissance style, was the sixth of seven Carnegie branch libraries built in San Francisco.
Hobart Building
Architect: Willis Polk
Old use: office
Current use: office
Notes: Back in 1914, Second Street was a major street that lead to the wealthy residential area of Rincon Hill. Polk still designed the new building so that the best view of the tower was from Second Street.
National Guard Armory
Architect: State Architect John F. Woollett
Old use: military armory
Current use: studios
Notes: From 1920's through the 1940's, the Mission Armory served as San Francisco's primary sports venue, eventually earning the nickname the Madison Square Garden of the West.
PG&E Substation J
Architect: Frederick H. Meyer and Henry C. Vensano
Old use: electrical substation
Current use: restaurant (Wexler's)
Notes: Substation J was an early example of the adaptive reuse of an industrial building. At various times, the structure housed the nightclubs Station J and Whiskey a Go-Go and the restaurant Paoli's.
San Francisco Labor Temple/Redstone Building
Architect: O'Brien and Werner
Old use: San Francisco Labor Council headquarters
Current use: commercial space
Notes: The building was a hub of union organizing, work activities and a "primary center for the city's historic labor community for over half a century."
Engine Company No. 24
Architect: John Reid Jr
Old use: fire station
Current use: fire station
Notes: Engine Company No. 24 remains in service today at this location offering fire protection to the Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, and the Mission District.
Engine Company No. 48
Architect: John Reid Jr.
Old use: fire station
Current use: fire station
Notes: The station was slated for demo in 1991, but instead the entire interior was refurbished.
Eppleton Hall Paddlewheel Tugboat
Architect: Hepple and Company
Old use: tugboat
Current use: Maritime Museum
Notes: The ship was brought from England to San Francisco via the Panama Canal and passed under the Golden Gate bridge in March, 1970.
Century Club of California
Architect: Julia Morgan
Old use: private women's club
Current use: private women's club
Notes: The building was originally a private home that for two years after 1906 housed the State Supreme Court of California
Sea Cliff Houses
Architect: Willis Polk
Old use: residences
Current use: residences
Notes: Polk designed three houses in Sea Cliff in the Neo-classical style with French country manor influences.
Chancellor Hotel
Architect: Rousseau & Rousseau
Old use: hotel
Current use: hotel
Notes: The Chancellor Hotel was built to withstand the greatest quake and would be advertised as "Virtually fire proof".
Carousel at Golden Gate Park
Architect: Herschell-Spillman Company
Old use: carousel
Current use: carousel
Notes: At first, the carousel was powered by steam, but when PG&E offered to loan an electric motor to the park, officials gladly agreed to pay the remaining expenses.
Pier 35 cruise terminal
Architect: unknown
Old use: port pier
Current use: cruise terminal
Notes: Pier 35 contributes to the Port of San Francisco Embarcadero Historic District.
Pier 43 Ferry Arch
Architect: unknown
Old use: port pier
Current use: park
Notes: Pier 43 and its headhouse, a decorated hoisting tower for loading and unloading rail cars on and off ferries, was built in 1914 to serve the Belt Railroad. The headhouse was rehabilitated in 2002-2003 after a fire in 1998, and in 2012 the promenade was turned into a park.
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