“Maybe it’s the setting, maybe its nostalgia for climbing on the cannons as a child, but it’s maybe my favorite adobe building I can think of. (It is adobe, right?)” — jwdmeow

[Editor’s note: Yes, it’s adobe style!]

This 27-story hotel located in Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square, which opened in 1971, is a brutalist style beast that, while impossible to ignore, rarely gets its due respect. Pity.

Designed by Welton Becket and Associates and competed in 1972, this minimalist beast has lines vertical lines for days.

There are a handful of beautiful auto shop structures in the area, but this is one of the best. Dig that stunning arched facade.

“I love 101 California. [Designed by] architect Phillip Johnson, I love the way it looks different from different angles, the way it appears to float above its base. Love the view of it from Front Street.” — CESF

“I don’t live in your beautiful city, but I fell in love with this when I walked past it.” — Priscilla Lynch

“The Crown Zellerbach HQ, now One Bush Street, is SF’s first international-style curtain-wall building. Completed in 1959 by SOM, it’s a handsome tower with a glass-enclosed lobby. The building is set back from the street with an orderly plaza that features a Jetsons-era round retail space. It all comes together to project cool, mid-century Mad Men vibe.” — Andy Bosselman

“When walking along the Embarcadero, I always appreciate seeing Red’s Java House and Fire Station 35.” — 49Giants

“I like the art deco front of 130 Montgomery. Lots of nice little buildings like that in the Financial District.” — pinchelobster

“JP Morgan Chase is a handsome, underrated building.” —  Koyaanisqatsi Weltshmerz

“I love that little balcony!” — jwdmeow

Frank Lloyd Wright’s V.C. Morris Gift Shop at 140 Maiden Lane, whose circular ramp was the prototype design for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, is now an Italian men’s clothing store. “Upon its completion, it electrified the architectural world not only for its architecture, but for its radical interpretation of a retail store,” said the San Francisco’s Historic Preservation Commission who voted unanimously in 2016 to preserve the interior.

The now-demolished Embarcadero Freeway used to hide this utilitarian PG&E transformer station. But when the roadway went down and condo and apartment towers started to rise, it came into full view. Urban design critic John King writes that the substation tells of a time when downtown SF was a place to work, not live. (Note: The adjoining park was done by Stanley Saitowitz.)

“Love, love, love the substation. So brutal, in a good way,” said reader 49Giants.

Built in 1917 as a Shriner’s Temple, the Geary Street building was designed in Exotic Revival style to look like an Islamic temple. The June 1917 edition of Architect and Engineer described the Alcazar Theatre as “an adaptation from Alhambra, a building that stands as the highest mark of Arabian art and civilization.”

Used as a temple until 1970, it is now a theater that shows cabaret and off-Broadway shows.

“I’d love to see it get more love and use,” says QandA.

Built in the 1960s, this residential tower is delightfully bulbous with stacks of balconies surrounding the circular structure. It pairs nicely with nearby midcentury marvel St. Mary’s Cathedral.

“Many towers radiate self-importance,” notes John King in his book Cityscapes 2: Reading the Architecture of San Francisco. “This one just wants its residents to enjoy life and savor the views, and who can argue with that?

Built in 1909 by architect George Applegarth for the Eastern Outfitting Co. department store, this Mid-Market looker is highlighted by a broad five-story bay flanked by two Corinthian columns.

For those who want their final resting place to be in the city, this is the last spot where you can be legally interred. This columbarium has been recognized as a significant contributor to the city’s architectural landscape with its large stained glass windows, and blended baroque and neoclassical design.

“[A]mid most of SoMa’s generic warehouses, I’ve always appreciated the style of 625 Third Street, the former Rolling Stone offices” — hunterrible

Stanley Saitowitz, arguably the city’s most important living designer, deserves several mentions on this list. But 1234 Howard is one of the firm’s best designs, and the most emblematic of his vision for in-fill architecture. Most notable here is his use of louvered shades. In a word, stunning.

“I do love the tile work on 1235 Mission Street” — hunterrible

One of many—many—stunning Victorians in the neighborhood.

In a sea of vapid renovations and residential hig-hrises, this little midcentury facade on Mission Street never fails to delight.

“For years, I lived half a block up from the Hua Zang Si temple at 3134 22nd St. The red and grey color combo is badass and the building is just so damn striking. Its fierceness is softened by the lovely monks(?) who sweep the street everyday and the chill Buddha holding court behind the building’s glass front doors.” — 49Giants

Originally christened Laguna Honda Station (lettering with its old name remains carved on the station headhouse), the station was designed in the classical revival style. At the surface level, period pilasters and archways remain. The coffered ceiling and crown moldings are also a treat to behold. And the platform level subway tile in white, black, and red checker pattern is some of the finest in the entire system.

The metro station, which turned 100 this year, is San Francisco’s oldest Muni station.

Built in 1936 and designed by Willis Polk, this classical structure is a 9.5-million gallon water facility. Highlights here include such embellishments as fish and Neptune’s trident. Over the entrance door there are several sculptures as well as the inscription “Let they fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets.”

Stunning. Daring. Yuck. No public transit station in the Bay Area elicits more varied responses than this concrete beauty in Glen Park. Designed by Corlett+Spackman and Ernest Born, the station is noteworthy for adopting Brutalism. But don’t let the aggressive name fool you—this concrete-loving midcentury architecture style has produced some of the finest works in San Francisco and the world over. (So much so that architects and preservationists go to battle when a Brutalist work is in danger of demolition.)

The Art Deco/Gothic high-rise in the Tendernob, built in 1925 by John C. Hladik, originally opened as a space for men who wanted a pied-a-terre near the neighborhood’s gentlemen-only clubs (e.g., the Bohemian Club, the Olympic Club). The building is also noted for its crimson hue (aka Downing Street red) as well as its Satan-tinged address at 666 Post.

Opening in 1937, this Streamline Moderne motel in the Outer Sunset, designed by Conrad Kett, was honored by the Art Deco Society in 1987 for preservation. It’s also noted for its nautical whimsy and neon signage.