The Hilton San Francisco Financial District (originally the Holiday Inn Financial District but often referred to as the Holiday Inn Chinatown) is a
skyscraper hotel located east across
Kearny Street
Kearny Street () in San Francisco, California runs north from Market Street to The Embarcadero. Toward its south end, it separates the Financial District from the Union Square and Chinatown districts. Further north, it passes over Telegr ...
from
Portsmouth Square
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most densel ...
on the border between the
Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
and
Chinatown neighborhoods of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. The site was formerly occupied by the
San Francisco Hall of Justice, which served as the headquarters of the
San Francisco Police Department, until it was moved to 850 Bryant in 1961. The
Chinese Cultural Center leases approximately within the building for rotating exhibitions at a nominal cost due to lobbying from the local
Chinese-American
Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...
community.
History
The site was originally used as the Jenny Lind Theater (destroyed by fire in May and June 1851, then rebuilt) before the building was acquired by the city in 1852 for a new City Hall; on the basis of its historical significance, it was named as
California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
no. 192.
The cornerstone for the Hall of Justice and Morgue was laid in December 1896,
in the block bounded by Kearny, Montgomery, Washington, and Merchant, previously occupied by the City Hall.
[ The building was completed by September 1900; shortly thereafter its proximity to Chinatown was questioned, as "city officials and business men" found it "very obnoxious ... to have the Chinese quarters so near the new hall of justice." In the wake of the April 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, the Hall of Justice was gutted, but it later was rebuilt and enlarged.
After the groundbreaking ceremony was held for a new Hall of Justice in 1958, redevelopment planning began for the site. The San Francisco Planning Commission authorized the sale of the old Hall of Justice site in December 1960 and set an August 1961 move-out date for the final agencies occupying it. The San Francisco Greater Chinatown Community Service Association Organization (SFGCCSA) was formed in February 1963 to lobby the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (SFBOS), proposing to convert the old Hall of Justice into a publicly-accessible facility to serve the Chinatown community;] at the time, San Francisco Mayor George Christopher
George Christopher (born George Christopheles; December 8, 1907 – September 14, 2000) was a Greek-American politician who served as the 34th mayor of San Francisco from 1956 to 1964. He is the most recent Republican to be elected mayor of San ...
was advocating for the sale of the property, which would help finance the construction of a new Central Police Station. The city announced the land would be placed on sale one month later in March, with a minimum bid of $850,000.[ Upon learning that Howard Johnson was planning on acquiring the land for a 21-storey motel, Choy, representing SFGCCSA, convinced the SFBOS to postpone the sale decision, giving them time to draw up a plans for converting the old Hall of Justice into a Chinese cultural and trade center. SFGCCSA hired J. Francis Ward and Associates in April 1964; that firm had previously designed the ]Ping Yuen
Ping Yuen and North Ping Yuen (sometimes collectively called The Pings) form a four-building public housing complex in the north end of Chinatown, San Francisco along Pacific Avenue. In total, there are 434 apartments. The three Pings on the so ...
public housing project in Chinatown, and assigned the redesign work to Thomas Hsieh.[
In March 1965, the SFBOS voted to allow the ]San Francisco Redevelopment Agency
The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) was an urban renewal agency active from 1948 until 2012, with purpose to improve the urban landscape through "redesign, redevelopment, and rehabilitation" of specific areas of the city.
SFRA demoli ...
(SFRA), led by M. Justin Herman, to take over planning the re-use of the site. One supervisor objected the long-delayed sale was "robbing San Francisco of needed tax revenues".[
]
Justice Enterprises and Chinese Culture Foundation
The site was planned to be sold to private interests at a purchase price of ; prospective bidders were required to pay an $85,000 deposit, with bids due no later than June 1, 1965. Under the ''San Francisco Downtown General Plan'' (1963), a pedestrian bridge along the line of Merchant Street was one of several planned improvements for the area. Herman unveiled five competing proposals by June 3; two of the five were from teams led by Chinese-Americans, characterized as "early favorites".
Of the two, the design from Clement Chen and Dartmond Cherk was called "futuristic" and "eye-catching";[ the other, proposed by Dr. Colin Dong and designed by Morton Rader, had a taller but more conventional hotel tower, which Rader called a "vertical ]Grant Avenue
Grant Avenue in San Francisco, California, is one of the oldest streets in the city's Chinatown district. It runs in a north–south direction starting at Market Street in the heart of downtown and dead-ending past Francisco Street in the North ...
". A third proposal from Haas and Haynie, then contracted to build the Japan Center in the Western Addition
The Western Addition is a district in San Francisco, California, United States.
Location
The Western Addition is located between Van Ness Avenue, the Richmond District, the Haight-Ashbury and Lower Haight neighborhoods, and Pacific Heights.
...
, was designed by Stephen M. Heller and Associates. The entrants were rounded out by Milton Meyer and Co., realtors, proposing to reuse the Hall of Justice in a design by John Savage Bolles, and Justice Enterprises, Inc., with a design by Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons.[ Businesses interested in the development included the Sheraton Hotels and Resorts chain and ]Tishman Realty & Construction
Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Inc. is an American corporation founded in 1898 that owns and develops real estate. The company is known for being the contractor that built the original World Trade Center in New York City. Tishman Constructio ...
(supporting the Chen/Cherk design), Cahill Contractors (Justice Enterprises), and Greyhound Lines (Haas & Haynie).[
Alexander Fried, art and architecture critic for the '' San Francisco Examiner'', wrote an article enthusiastically promoting the Chen/Cherk design three weeks after the five designs were revealed.][ The SFGCCSA was reorganized as the Chinese Culture Foundation (CCF) of San Francisco on October 15, 1965, by financier J.K. Choy, Joe Yuey, and others.][ In early November, the SFBOS approved the creation of a Chinese cultural center within the old Hall of Justice site, with a minimum of of floor space to be dedicated for that purpose. Later that month, Harold Moose, president of Justice Enterprises, declared their proposal would meet the minimum floor space requirement at an annual rental cost of $5,000.
In December 1965, the SFRA instructed the Dong and Chen/Cherk groups to prepare more detailed plans and financial data. Tishman withdrew from the competition in April 1966, and the Justice Enterprises group adopted Chen's design, with promised support from Cahill. In October, Justice Enterprises announced that it had signed a 25-year lease with the ]Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...
Corporation for the hotel operation, contingent on the city awarding the purchase rights to Justice for the old Hall of Justice site. Purchase rights were granted in November, pending approval from the SFBOS, and the lease was formalized in June 1967. With the lease in hand, Justice Enterprises was able to secure a $7.8 million loan to complete the financing for the project, and the demolition of the old Hall of Justice was set for early 1968. The CCF signed a fifty-year lease with Justice Enterprises on November 21, 1967, with the space to be rented at an annual cost of $1, and the lease could be extended for ten more years if the property was still being operated as a hotel.[
]
Design and construction
The concept was developed by a team led by Chinese-American architects Clement Chen and Dartmond Cherk, with structural engineering by T.Y. Lin. The original concept called for a tower tall, with a pedestrian bridge
A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...
across Kearny linking it to Portsmouth Square and Chinatown. Chen stated his design was meant to be "a majestic landmark for Chinatown and San Francisco to serve as a symbol of the gateway to the Orient". A heliport
A heliport is a small airport suitable for use by helicopters and some other vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also have limited facilities such as fuel or hangars. I ...
was proposed for the building's roof.
The firm of John Carl Warnecke and Associates was brought on to complete detail work on the original design.[ Because the cost of the original 48-storey design could not be covered, Chen redesigned the building, shortening it to 27 storeys.][ It has since been named eligible for listing on the ]California Register of Historical Resources
The California Register of Historical Resources is a California state government program for use by state and local agencies, private groups, and citizens to identify, evaluate, register and protect California's historical resources. The register i ...
in 2021, both as an exceptional example of Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...
and as a symbol of the growing political power of the Chinatown community.[
The original Chen/Cherk design also included cultural space on one of the decks in their enclosed pedestrian bridge from the hotel to Portsmouth Square.][ By late 1967, the double-decker bridge design was discarded in favor of a single-level bridge, with the cultural space to be incorporated into the ground floor of the hotel tower.][ Taiwanese architect Chen Chi-kwan and American landscape architect ]Robert Royston
Robert N. Royston (1918 – September 19, 2008) was one of America's most distinguished landscape architects, based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. His design work and university teaching in the years followi ...
were engaged by Justice Enterprises to contribute to the bridge design, a move praised by Fried. Clement Chen later stated the bridge design was inspired by the Anji Bridge.
After the Hall of Justice was demolished, ground was broken for the new hotel on August 20, 1968. The ceremonies were attended by Mayor Joseph Alioto
Joseph Lawrence Alioto (February 12, 1916 – January 29, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 36th mayor of San Francisco, California, from 1968 to 1976.
Biography
Alioto was born in San Francisco in 1916. His father, Giuseppe ...
; Herman announced the National Palace Museum in Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
would make a major donation to the Chinese Culture Center
The Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco (or CCC) (; Jyutping: ''Gau6gam1saan1 Zung1waa4 Man4faa3 Zung1sam1'') is a community-based, non-profit organization established in 1965 as the operations center of the Chinese Culture Foundation locate ...
within the hotel.[ The project was anticipated to cost $14 million (equivalent to $ adjusted for ]inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...
).[
By November 1969, the new tower was set to be topped out; the two uppermost floors were designed to "flare out in pagoda style" to accommodate a rooftop swimming pool. As completed in November 1970, the hotel had 572 rooms, convention and banquet halls, two dining rooms, and two cocktail lounges. Floors two, three, and four are suspended from a structural arch.] The Holiday Inn Chinatown was dedicated on January 13, 1971; the Asian People's Coalition protested at the hotel's dedication ceremony, describing it as a place that would "house tourists who will come to gawk at us like animals in a zoo."[
]
The pedestrian bridge linking the hotel to Chinatown was approved by city departments on November 14 (Recreation and Park) and November 21, 1968 (Planning), but required the existing playground in Portsmouth Square be relocated to avoid the heavy shadows that would be cast by the bridge.[ The bridge was scheduled for completion in mid-August 1971.] It is long and wide. Critics of the bridge charged it would "make it easier for the tourists to get to Chinatown" and expressed concerns that it would "destroy" Portsmouth Square; Holiday Inn management countered that 80% of its staff were Chinese (in accordance with their agreement with Justice Enterprises) and that tourist spending would "be meat for the economy of Chinatown".[
The Chinese Cultural Center, which was intended to be completed by Justice Enterprises at no cost to the CCF, was delayed due to disputes over the responsibility for additional construction costs between Justice and the CCF;][ the original design called for a single floor with ceilings at a budget of $70,000. As they reviewed the plans, the CCF board ordered a higher, ceiling, auditorium and mezzanine spaces, and the relocation of four structural columns.][ While Justice representative William Chandler charged CCF had ordered numerous structural changes, CCF pointed to the lease agreement which stated unambiguously the developer was responsible for all charges. The cost to finish the space was estimated at $100,000.][ The influential ]Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) ( in the Western United States, Midwest, and Western Canada; 中華公所 (中华公所) ''zhōnghuá gōngsuǒ'' ( Jyutping: zung1wa4 gung1so2) in the East) is a historical Chinese associa ...
also disclaimed the CCF work and withdrew funding on September 22, 1970; Him Mark Lai points to a ''Newsweek'' article quoting Joe Yuey's praise of the People's Republic of China in February of that year, which led to most traditional Chinatown organizations boycotting the CCF and withdrawing pledged money.[ The Chinese-American community of northern California raised $560,000 to complete the Cultural Center, which began final construction in late January 1973 and held a gala opening on October 18, 1973. ]Him Mark Lai
Him Mark Lai (; November 1, 1925 – May 21, 2009) was a historian of Chinese American, a leader of the Chinese-American community, and writer. He helped restore the state of Chinese American historiography. Lai "rescued, collected, catalogued, p ...
published a history of the CCF in 1995.
Exterior updates in 1991 include modifications to the first-floor windows on the Washington Street facade, a ramp to accommodate patrons under the Americans with Disabilities Act, new lighting, and ten new flag poles.
Rebranding
The Holiday Inn Downtown was closed on June 1, 2005, for an extensive, $40 million ($ adjusted) remodel that included asbestos abatement. It was rebranded the Hilton San Francisco Financial District when it reopened on January 12, 2006. The rooftop pool was closed following the renovation.
A clubhouse was built in Portsmouth Square under the bridge in 2001. Gates were installed at the Portsmouth Square (western) end in 2003,[ under a park pavilion added in 1991. The bridge was considered private property; when the gates are shut, keys are needed to access the bridge from Portsmouth Square.][ Hotel staff close the gate nightly at 7 PM.][ However, ownership of the bridge was not clear, as the original agreements from 1968 state it would be built and maintained at no cost to the city.] Plans were developed under the Innovative Open Space Project starting in June 2015 to convert the bridge into a public mini-park; the Chinese Culture Center unveiled an installation by Beili Liu in August 2015, entitled "Sky Bridge", which covered the brick pavers with 50,000 mirrored Mylar
BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and a ...
stickers. Final designs announced in December included a tile mosaic entitled "Sunrise" by Mik Gaspay to be installed at the eastern end next to the hotel. "Sunrise" was unveiled on October 23, 2016.
The San Francisco Department of Recreation & Parks solicited community input for a planned renovation of Portsmouth Square in 2017 and 2018; by a margin of more than three to one, the attendees recommended removing the bridge altogether. A draft project would completely remake Portsmouth Square and remove the pedestrian bridge.[
]
Criticism
Longtime ''San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'' architecture critic Allan Temko
Allan Bernard Temko (February 4, 1924 – January 25, 2006) was an architectural critic and writer based in San Francisco.
History
Born in New York City and raised in Weehawken, New Jersey, Temko served as a U.S. Navy officer in World War II ...
called the Holiday Inn a "bulbous slab" that "exhibits just about every mistake that can be committed in urban design"; urban design critic John King added it was "the most unsociable chunk of concrete in San Francisco ... grim on the skyline and worse on the ground ... the harsh tower standing aloof from the sullied street". ''Chronicle'' editor Scott Newhall
Scott Newhall (January 21, 1914 – October 26, 1992) was a newspaper editor known for his stewardship of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''.
Early life
Scott Newhall was born on January 21, 1914, into the family that owned the Newhall Land and Far ...
criticized the removal of the old Hall of Justice, which he likened to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi
The Palazzo Medici, also called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi after the later family that acquired and expanded it, is a Renaissance palace located in Florence, Italy. It is the seat of the Metropolitan City of Florence and a museum.
Overview
...
in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
: " he Hall of Justicewas one of the first grand old San Francisco municipal temples to go. The development pirates were in on the deal ... they put out the word that they were really building a Chinese cultural center. Well, Allan Temko got onto it. The 'Chinese cultural center' actually was nothing but sort of a mezzanine in a Holiday Inn."
Rebecca Solnit
Rebecca Solnit (born 1961) is an American writer. She has written on a variety of subjects, including feminism, the environment, politics, place, and art.
Early life and education
Solnit was born in 1961 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to a Jewish fa ...
wrote in 2004 the bridge contributed to the evisceration of Portsmouth Square; Temko had called for its removal twenty years prior.
Alex Lehnerer noted the Holiday Inn was one of four high-rises within San Francisco, all built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which attracted disproportionate criticism; the other three were the Bank of America Building (1969, "too big and too dark"), Embarcadero Center
Embarcadero Center is a commercial complex of five office towers, two hotels, a shopping center with more than 125 stores, bars, and restaurants, and a fitness center on three levels located in San Francisco, California. There is an outdoor ice sk ...
(1971–82, "too large and too bulky"), and the Transamerica Pyramid
The Transamerica Pyramid is a 48-story futurist skyscraper in San Francisco, California, United States, and the second tallest building in the San Francisco skyline. Located at 600 Montgomery Street between Clay and Washington Streets in the c ...
(1972, "too bizarre").
Trivia
Model and actress Lynda Carter
Lynda Jean Cordova Carter (born July 24, 1951) is an American actress, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World USA 1972 and finished in the top 15 at the Miss World 1972 pageant.
Carter is best known as the star of th ...
performed at the new Holiday Inn's "Eight Immortals Lounge" as the lead singer for "The Garfin Gathering". Another member of the band recalls the hotel was so new there were no sidewalk-level entrances, and their audience was limited to staff and guests that were able to drive into the hotel's underground garage.
The new Holiday Inn featured prominently in the opening scenes of the 1971 film ''Dirty Harry
''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department (SFP ...
'', in which "Scorpio" shoots from 555 California
555 California Street, formerly Bank of America Center, is a 52-story skyscraper in San Francisco, California. It is the fourth tallest building in the city as of February 2021, and in 2013 was the largest by floor area. Completed in 1969, the ...
and kills a swimmer at the now-closed pool on the building's roof.
See also
* San Francisco's tallest buildings
References
External links
Hilton San Francisco Financial District hotel website
*
*
*
{{Authority control
San Francisco Financial District
Hotel buildings completed in 1971
Skyscraper hotels in San Francisco
Brutalist architecture in California
Financial District, San Francisco
Chinatown, San Francisco
1971 establishments in California