Columbus Tower | |
---|---|
Alternative names | Sentinel Building Flatiron Building |
General information | |
Type | Mixed-used |
Location | 916 Kearny Street San Francisco, California |
Coordinates | 37°47′47″N122°24′18″W / 37.7964°N 122.4049°W |
Completed | 1907 |
Owner | Albert & Connie Der Family Trust [ citation needed ] |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 8 |
Floor area | 22,700 sq ft (2,110 m2) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Salfield & Kohlberg |
Developer | Abe Ruef |
Designated | 1970 [1] |
Reference no. | 33 |
References | |
[2] |
Columbus Tower, also known as the Sentinel Building, is a mixed-use building in San Francisco, California, completed in 1907. The distinctive copper-green Flatiron style structure is bounded by Columbus Avenue, Kearny Street, and Jackson Street; straddling the North Beach, Chinatown, and Financial District neighborhoods of the city. Much of the building is occupied by film studio American Zoetrope, and the ground floor houses a cafe named after the company. The Sentinel Building is listed as San Francisco Designated Landmark No. 33. [3]
The building was designed by the architecture firm Salfield and Kohlberg, named for architects David Salfield and Hermann Kohlberg. [3]
Despite the 1907 finish, building work had begun before the San Francisco earthquake the previous year, but extensive damage to the building site, and the rest of the city, slowed down the construction considerably. For a relatively small building such as Sentinel Building, with the extensive workforce available in San Francisco at that time, taking more than a year to complete the building was slightly longer than would have been expected.[ citation needed ]
The top floor initially housed the headquarters of the notorious Abe Ruef, a local political figure at the time.
In 1949 or 1950, the nightclub hungry i, which would become very influential in the history of stand-up comedy in the US, was opened as an 83-seat venue in the Sentinel Building's basement by Eric Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1951. [4] After operating it as a venue for folk singers including Stan Wilson, Banducci began hiring comedians in 1953 with Mort Sahl, encouraging them to express themselves freely. [4] Their success caused queues around the block, until Banducci moved the hungry i to the nearby International Hotel on Jackson Street in 1954. [5] [4]
In 1958, when the Sentinel Building's state had deteriorated and it was threatened with destruction, it was bought by Dutch-born investor Rob Moor and his wife Nella, who renovated it, renamed it to "Columbus Tower", and sold it one and a half years later at a profit to The Kingston Trio. [6] The music group used it as their corporate headquarters during the 1960s. They built a recording studio in the basement which they used themselves and for many other artists including the We Five.
The Kingston Trio later sold the building to film director Francis Ford Coppola, who renovated it and changed its name back to the Sentinel Building. [6] [7] American Zoetrope, the film studio he co-founded with George Lucas, moved into the building in 1972 and remains there as of 2016. [8]
Currently occupying much of the tower is Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope studio. [9]
Other tenants include independent public media producers for NPR and PBS, as well as independent sound designers for Pixar and Skywalker Sound, among others.
On the ground floor is the Cafe Zoetrope (previously Cafe Niebaum-Coppola), which has occupied part of the building since 1999. The café is a bistro and wine shop satellite of the Inglenook Estate Winery in the Napa Valley. [10]
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood film movement and is widely considered one of the greatest directors of all time. Coppola is the recipient of five Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Palmes d'Or, and a BAFTA Award.
The Transamerica Pyramid is a pyramid-shaped 48-story modernist 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 city's Financial District, it was the tallest building in San Francisco from its completion in 1972 until 2018 when the newly-constructed Salesforce Tower surpassed its height. The building no longer houses the headquarters of the Transamerica Corporation, which moved its U.S. headquarters to Baltimore, Maryland. The building is still associated with the company by being depicted on the company's logo. Designed by architect William Pereira and built by Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company, the building stands at 853 feet (260 m). On completion in 1972 it was the eighth-tallest building in the world. It is also a popular tourist site. In 2020, the building was sold to NYC investor Michael Shvo, who in 2022 hired Norman Foster to redesign the interiors and renovate the building.
American Zoetrope is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.
The Hungry I was a nightclub in San Francisco, California, originally located in the North Beach neighborhood. It played a major role in the history of stand-up comedy in the United States. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1951. The club moved to Ghirardelli Square in 1967 and operated mostly as a rock music venue until it closed in 1970.
One from the Heart is a 1982 American musical romantic drama film co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan, and Harry Dean Stanton. Set entirely in Las Vegas and made independently by Coppola's own Zoetrope Studios, the film was a critical and commercial failure.
Enrico Banducci was an American impresario. Banducci operated the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, where he launched the careers of The Kingston Trio, Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Bill Cosby, Jonathan Winters, and Barbra Streisand, and featured Woody Allen and Dick Cavett before they were well-known, as well as countless folk singers and comedians. The hungry i featured the original brick wall in the stage background, a staple for stand up comedy presentations ever since. Banducci bought the hungry i from its founder, Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, in 1950. Banducci later also started the Clown Alley hamburger stand as well as Enrico's Sidewalk Cafe on Broadway, a restaurant and jazz club.
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One Embarcadero Center is a class-A office skyscraper in the Financial District of San Francisco, California. The building is part of the Embarcadero Center complex of six interconnected buildings and one off-site extension. The skyscraper, completed in 1971, stands 569 ft (173 m) tall with 45 stories without its flagpole. One Embarcadero Center is the second-tallest building out of the entire complex, standing one foot shorter than Four Embarcadero Center, which is the tallest in the complex.
123 Mission Street, sometimes referenced as the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, is a 124 m (407 ft) 29 floor skyscraper in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco, California, completed in 1986. The tower was developed by Shorenstein Properties and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Central Tower is a 91 m (299 ft) 21-story office building at Market and Third Streets in San Francisco, California. The building has undergone numerous renovations since its completion in 1898 as the Call Building. It was later known as the Spreckels Building.
The Boarding House was a music and comedy nightclub, located at 960 Bush Street in San Francisco, California, opened by David Allen in 1971 and closed in the early 1980s. Many comedians launched their career at The Boarding House including Robin Williams. Steve Martin's first three albums were recorded there, Let's Get Small, A Wild and Crazy Guy, and Comedy Is Not Pretty!, in whole or in part. Ellen DeGeneres and Jay Leno have said they first met at The Boarding House.
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