The Pacific Exchange was an American

regional stock exchange A regional stock exchange is a term used in the United States to describe stock exchanges that operate outside of the country's main financial center in New York City. A regional stock exchange operates in the trading of listed and Over-the-count ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, from 1956 to 2006. Its main exchange floor and building were in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, with a branch building in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 1882, the San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange was founded; and in 1899 the Los Angeles Oil Exchange was founded. In 1956, these two exchanges merged to create the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange, with

trading floor Open outcry is a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange, typically on a trading floor. It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orde ...

s maintained in both cities. In 1973, it was renamed the Pacific Stock Exchange. The Pacific Exchange was bought by Archipelago Holdings in 2005, which merged with the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

in 2006. Pacific Exchange equities and options trading now take place exclusively through the

NYSE Arca NYSE Arca, previously known as ArcaEx, an abbreviation of Archipelago Exchange, is an exchange on which both stocks and options are traded. It was owned by Intercontinental Exchange. It merged with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2006 and ...

platform.

History

Two separate exchanges were founded; the San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange in 1882 and the Los Angeles Oil Exchange in 1899. In 1956, they merged to create the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange, though separate

s were maintained in both cities. In 1973, it was renamed the Pacific Stock Exchange and it began trading options three years later in 1976. In 1999, the exchange became the first U.S. stock exchange to

demutualize Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (''mutual'') or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, member ...

. The trading floor in Los Angeles was closed in 2001, followed by the floor in San Francisco a year later. 2003 saw the exchange launch PCX Plus, an electronic options trading platform. By 2005, the Pacific Exchange was bought by the owner of the ArcaEx platform, Archipelago Holdings, which then merged with the

in 2006. The New York Stock Exchange conducts no business operations under the name Pacific Exchange, essentially ending its separate identity. Pacific Exchange equities and options trading now takes place exclusively through the

(formerly known as ArcaEx) platform, an Electronic communication network (ECN), as NYSE Arca Equities and NYSE Arca Options, respectively.

San Francisco Pacific Exchange building history

The San Francisco Pacific Exchange building, which once housed the equities trading floor, is located on Pine Street at the corner of Sansome Street 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 headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

in San Francisco. The building was initially designed in a

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

by architect Milton Dyer in 1915. It was remodeled in 1930 by the firms Miller and Pflueger, architects

James Rupert Miller James Rupert Miller (June 27, 1869 – August 23, 1946) was an architect active in San Francisco, California in the first half of the 20th century. Miller gained prominence after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake when his firm was one among many ...

and

Timothy Pflueger Timothy Ludwig Pflueger (September 26, 1892 – November 20, 1946) was an architect, interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing en ...

; and the interior design was done by architect Michael Goodman. The exterior building sculptures were created in Yosemite

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

by artist

Ralph Stackpole Ralph Ward Stackpole (May 1, 1885 – December 10, 1973) was an American sculpture, sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator, San Francisco's leading artist during the 1920s and 1930s. Stackpole was involved in the art and causes of so ...

. Sketches made by Pflueger for the remodel of this building can be found in the permanent collection at

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

. After the 1930 remodeling, the building was in an Art Deco Moderne style, with its street facade was clad in

Yule marble Yule Marble is a marble of metamorphosed Leadville Limestone found only in the Yule Creek Valley, in the West Elk Mountains of Colorado, southeast of the town of Marble, Colorado.Marble Quadrangle, Colorado; USGS 7.5-minute series topogr ...

. The building was sold to private developers and converted by

Equinox Fitness Equinox Holdings, Inc. is an American luxury fitness company and health club headquartered in New York City, New York. The company operates more than 300 club facilities in major cities in the United States, as well as in London, Toronto, and V ...

into a fitness center.

Mills Building

An options trading floor in the city of San Francisco still operates in the adjacent Mills Building on the second floor. It was originally connected to the main building and underwent an expansion in September 1984 and expanded again in the mid-1990s with major changes to the layout.

References

External links

San Francisco Chronicle: "Exchange Ending an Era. Pacific is phasing out its historic stock trading floor."
(March 9, 1999)
Youtube.com: SF options floor live trading in 1997
— ''filmed by a floor broker''.
First Cut episode: "What options trading really is"
{{Authority control Former stock exchanges in the United States Buildings and structures in San Francisco Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Economy of Los Angeles Economy of San Francisco Self-regulatory organizations in the United States Buildings and structures completed in 1930 Buildings and structures completed in 1931 1930s architecture in the United States Moderne architecture in California 2006 disestablishments

History

San Francisco Pacific Exchange building history

Mills Building

See also

References

External links