“Building of the Month” was a minor big deal in Philadelphia when I lived there. I recall the “Building of the Month” was chosen by Friday Architects. A photo of the building was placed in their office window each month. It received a lot of local publicity and was only awarded to buildings that were anonymous, buildings that people either drove or walked by that went unnoticed. Of course, most buildings in cities face the street and are not really seen as façades when one is simply walking by. Their architecture is experienced more if one were to visit the interior.
So, in a similar fashion, I will kick off a “Name that Building” blog post with the following San Francisco building:
I drive by this façade often here in San Francisco. It’s one of my favorites. The tree gets equal billing to the building.
Another one I drive past regularly is this 7-foot-wide building (and that is giving it credit, the interior is likely 6 feet of clear width):
There is a certain façade motif that appears in some pre and post WW2 architecture that pops out occasionally: the long horizontal storefront windows in two story commercial buildings. Most windows used to come down to sidewalk level, but over the years this feature has been modified with an ordinary thick width aluminum storefront by the likes of Walgreens (below) and others.
The interior of the bar building below (now under renovation) is the part that most people experience, not the façade facing the street, although the BEER sign is trying to draw attenttion. The interior is bright, airy and inviting.
Obviously naming the building remodel below is an easy one, but take note of the elimination of horizontal windows on the ground floor.
The buildling below is famous. It has a name and is mentioned in one of my previous blog posts on neighborhood movie theaters.
This dramatically streamlined piece of 20th Century modernism sits back from the street and is somewhere in San Francisco.
Moving on to residential in the San Francisco area, the following two residences are miles apart, but both along the coast; one in North Bay and one in South Bay. Their distinguishing features are the roof lines: one slopes up and the other slopes down. Although somewhat obscure, they are both famous in their own way.
And so it goes.
Blog post written by David Tritt, Senior Architect.
