The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences is a luxury residential
skyscraper in 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 ...
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 residences are built atop the historic Old Chronicle Building, sometimes called the de Young Building, which was constructed in 1890. It is the first skyscraper built in California.
History
In 1888,
M. H. de Young, owner of the ''
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 ...
'', commissioned
Burnham and Root
Burnham and Root was one of Chicago's most famous architectural companies of the nineteenth century. It was established by Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn Root.
During their eighteen years of partnership, Burnham and Root designed and b ...
to design a signature building to house his newspaper. Finished in 1890, the Chronicle Building stood ten stories, with a clock tower reaching in height, becoming San Francisco's first skyscraper and the tallest building on the West Coast.
In 1905, a celebration of the re-election of Mayor
Eugene Schmitz
Eugene Edward Schmitz (August 22, 1864 – November 20, 1928), often referenced as "Handsome Gene" Schmitz, was an American musician and politician, the 26th mayor of San Francisco (1902-7), who was in office during the 1906 San Francisco earthq ...
stopped in front of the building and launched fireworks, which ignited the wooden clock tower atop the building.
The damaged clock tower was removed and de Young added two additional floors along Market Street and a 16-story annex along Kearny Street. The Chronicle Building survived the
1906 San Francisco earthquake but was badly damaged by the ensuing fire, which gutted the interior.
The building was rebuilt by architect
Willis Polk, who ran the San Francisco office of Burnham and Root.
In 1924, the ''Chronicle'' moved to its present location at Fifth and Mission streets, and the old Chronicle Building became a normal office building, thenceforth known as the de Young Building or Old Chronicle Building.
In 1962, in an effort to modernize the building, its owners covered the original masonry facade with a new facade of aluminum, glass, and porcelain paneling. By 2004, new owners received approval to restore the original facade, convert the building to residential use, and add eight stories to the existing structure. The Old Chronicle Building was designated
San Francisco Landmark No. 243 in 2004.
The building re-opened as the
Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addi ...
Club and Residences in November 2007.
Gallery
File:Chronicle Building, San Francisco, 1901.jpg, Old Chronicle Building in 1901
File:Chronicle Building 1906.jpg, The Old Chronicle Building after the 1906 earthquake and fire
File:Chronicle Building, San Francisco, 1915.jpg, Old Chronicle Building in 1915
File:PostcardSanFranciscoFountainPalaceHotelChronicleEntrance1915.jpg, Entrance to the Old Chronicle Building (left) and the Palace Hotel, ca. 1915
File:Palace Hotel and Lotta's Fountain.jpg, The de Young Building (left) as it appeared with its modern skin from 1962 to 2005
See also
*
San Francisco's tallest buildings
*
List of early skyscrapers
References
External links
*
{{Buildings in California timeline
Residential skyscrapers in San Francisco
Financial District, San Francisco
Newspaper headquarters in the United States
Commercial buildings completed in 1890
San Francisco Designated Landmarks
Buildings and structures destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
San Francisco Chronicle