The Pacific Gas and Electric Company General Office Building and Annex is a historic office building located at 245 Market St. in

San Francisco 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 ...

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 ...

. The building was constructed in 1923–25 to serve as the

Pacific Gas and Electric Company The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...

headquarters. Architects Bakewell & Brown designed the Beaux-Arts building. The seventeen-story building features an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

d lower section on the first two stories, a plain vertical shaft, and multiple setbacks at the top four stories. The entire exterior is clad in

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

, which is also used to decorate the lower and upper sections. The building's design complements the neighboring

Matson Building The Matson Building is a historic office building located at 215 Market Street in San Francisco, California. Description and history The building was constructed in 1922–1924 to serve as the headquarters of the Matson Navigation Company, the ...

. . Pacific Gas and Electric began a major expansion period shortly after constructing their headquarters, and they absorbed several other power companies in northern and central California. While business declined during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the company rebounded during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and then needed more space in its headquarters. In 1945 the company built an annex to the building; the annex, which is interconnected with the original building, was designed to match the original building's architecture. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on November 29, 1995. Pacific service magazine (1924) (14595111237).jpg, Pacific Gas and Electric Company's General Office Building, c. 1924-5 Pacific Gas and Electric Company General Office Building and Annex (taken on 27Aug2012 13hrs15mins12secs).jpg, Entrance to the building

References

Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Beaux-Arts architecture in California Office buildings completed in 1925 National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco Skyscraper office buildings in San Francisco Office buildings completed in 1945 {{SanFrancisco-NRHP-stub

See also

References