Phelan Building

The Phelan Building is an 11-story office building located at 760 Market Street in the Financial District of San Francisco, California. It has a triangular shape reminiscent of the Flatiron Building in Manhattan, New York City, with its tip at the meeting point of Market Street, O’Farrell Street, and Grant Avenue. It is a San Francisco Designated Landmark.

Phelan Building
A view of the Phelan Building from the Central Tower, 2014
Location within San Francisco County
Phelan Building (California)
Phelan Building (the United States)
General information
TypeCommercial offices
Retail space
Location760 Market Street
San Francisco, California
Coordinates37.7865828°N 122.4055023°W / 37.7865828; -122.4055023
GroundbreakingOctober 7, 1907
Completed1908
Technical details
Floor count11
Floor area31,000 sq ft (2,900 m2)
Lifts/elevators9
Design and construction
ArchitectWilliam Curlett
DeveloperJames D. Phelan
Designated1982[1]
Reference no.156
References
[2]

The building was designed by William Curlett and built in 1908 by James D. Phelan on the place of the first, original Phelan Building, damaged by the 1906 earthquake and fire. It was once home to the George Haas and Sons Candy Store, marketed as the most beautiful candy shop in the country.[3] Their business also operated a tea room on the second floor.[4]

The original Phelan Building

The first Phelan Building was constructed in 1881 by James Phelan, the father of James D. Phelan. It was a 6-story, bay-windowed, mansard-roofed flatiron.[5] Despite being advertised as “thoroughly fire and earthquake proof”,[6] the building was badly damaged in the 1906 post-earthquake fire, and its ruins were subsequently dynamited on April 20, 1906.[7]

  • Original Phelan Building in 1888
  • The ruins of the original building

The second Phelan Building

Work on the new Phelan Building began on October 7, 1907 and was completed on September 1, 1908 for retail stores, and the first day of 1909 for offices.[8] It was one of the earliest office buildings to be rebuilt after the earthquake.

The building's exterior features metal windows and is clad in cream glazed terra-cotta. The original steel structure was designed to accommodate 13 floors; eventually eleven were completed.[9]

At its opening, the building featured an assembly hall on the 11th floor, arcade stores on the second floor, and a basement café.[8]

For many decades, the Phelan Building was a de facto center for jewelry, hosting dozens of jewelers and a jewelry school.[10]

  • The Phelan Building in 2017
  • The tip of the building
  • 7th floor of the Phelan Building in March 2014; the last floor in its original configuration at that point and not converted to open layout

The penthouse
The penthouse as of April 2014

An unusual feature of the building is a small penthouse. Originally adorned by a rooftop garden, it was used by James D. Phelan to entertain dignitaries. It served as a photography studio in the 1960s,[11] and was abandoned some time in the 1980s.

Major tenants
gollark: Walls tend to block WiFi a lot. Especially 5GHz WiFi.
gollark: Most people have VDSL which does something like 34Mbps max.
gollark: Yes, most of the infrastructure is ancient copper cables.
gollark: Gigabit Ethernet can consistently deliver 1Gbps basically regardless of conditions and is widely supported and various fibre optic standards can do 10Gbps or 40Gbps (much higher is ridiculously expensive).
gollark: Theoretically 802.11ax/WiFi 6 can do 3Gbps or something. Practically, you can't get all that throughput on one device, your devices are probably 802.11ac or 802.11n, and the wireless environment isn't going to be utterly perfect and free of noise.

References
  1. "City of San Francisco Designated Landmarks". City of San Francisco. Archived from the original on 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
  2. Phelan Building at Emporis
  3. https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/02/09/boxes-used-to-come-with-more-than-just-candy/
  4. Whitaker, Jan (2015-06-30). Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn: A Social History of the Tea Room Craze in America. ISBN 9781250089816.
  5. "The Phelan Building History". phelanbuilding.net. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  6. Phelan Building advertisement, Fraternal Record, July 24, 1886
  7. "1906 Earthquake: Fire Fighting - Presidio of San Francisco (U.S. National Park Service)". nps.gov. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  8. Phelan Building: An Entirely New Modern Class "A" Office Building and a San Francisco Landmark (brochure), 1908
  9. Huge Phelan Building already is a landmark, San Francisco Call, December 29, 1907, p. 40
  10. "The Phelan Building". killyourmac.com. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  11. Seidkin, Phyllis (August 25, 1963), High Life at O'Farrell and Market, The San Francisco Examiner, Pictorial Living, p. 10
  12. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2014/05/credit-karma-760-market-thor-equities-tech-leasing.html
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