3. San Francisco City Hall (Civic Center)
“I think this building, in particular, displays San Francisco’s aspirations of being a great city, and trying to become the New York City of the West,” Cavagnero, said of San Francisco City Hall. “It’s a very ambitious structure that was really trying to tell the country – if not the world – that San Francisco had arrived.”
Cavagnero says that the Beaux-Arts building’s rotunda is especially impressive. “And if you’re willing to walk the grand marble staircase, you’ll see the corridors lined in oak panelling,” he said. This is also where you’ll find the mayor’s office, as well as the bronze busts of former Mayor George Moscone and former County Supervisor Harvey Milk, a poignant reminder of both their legacies and their assassinations, which occurred together in city hall on 27 November, 1978.
Every night, city hall’s exterior is illuminated by 220 LED lighting fixtures, which are colour-coordinated to coincide with a particular holiday or event, like purple for Women’s History Month or orange and black when the San Francisco Giants (a Major League Baseball team) make the playoffs. For the best views, Cavegnero recommends a half-block walk to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, one of his firm’s projects. “It’s home to a big performance hall,” the 200-seat Barbro Osher Recital Hall on the building’s 11th floor, “where they host 100 free concerts a year,” he said. The hall’s floor-to-ceiling glass walls offer “a magnificent view of the city, and specifically, the city hall dome,” he added.
Website: www.sf.gov/location/san-francisco-city-hall
Address: 1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Pl, San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: +1 415 554-4000
