The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences is a luxury residential

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

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 ...

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 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 Michael Henry de Young (September 30, 1849 – February 15, 1925) was an American journalist and businessman. Early life De Young was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The family was Jewish. Michael in later years claimed that his father was a Balti ...

, 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 M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', commissioned Burnham and Root 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 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 At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

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 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

References

External links

* {{Buildings in California timeline 1890 establishments in California 1890s architecture in the United States Burnham and Root buildings Commercial buildings completed in 1890 Financial District, San Francisco Newspaper headquarters in the United States Residential skyscrapers in San Francisco San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Designated Landmarks

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links