Russ Building
Upon completion, the building was iconic enough that Architect and Engineer wrote, “In nearly every large city there is one building that because of its size, beauty of architectural design and character of its use and occupancy, has come to typify the city itself ... Today the Russ Building takes this place in San Francisco. By its size and location and by the character of its tenants the building becomes indeed—'The Center of Western Progress'.”
However, Manhattanization from 1960 to 1990 has shrouded the tower in a shell of skyscrapers, removing the tower's prominence.
The San Francisco Chronicle's architecture critic John King described the Russ Building as "the embodiment of Jazz Age romance, a full block of ornate Gothic-flavored masonry that ascends in jagged stages from Montgomery Street with a leap and then a scramble to a central crown". The tower is a California Historical Landmark.
Until the emergence of Sand Hill Road in the 1980s, many of the largest venture capital firms held offices in the Russ Building.
See also
References
- ^ King, John (2015). Cityscapes 2: Reading the Architecture of San Francisco. Heyday. ISBN 9781597143141.
- ^ "Russ Building". Skyscraper Center. CTBUH. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- ^ "Emporis building ID 118778". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
- ^ "Russ Building". SkyscraperPage.
- ^ Russ Building at Structurae
- ^ "George W. Kelham | Companies". Emporis. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
- ^ "Russ Building (San Francisco, 1927)".
- ^ Corbett, Michael R (1979). Splendid survivors: San Francisco's downtown architectural heritage. San Francisco: California Living Books. ISBN 978-0-89395-031-6.
Further reading
- Woodbridge, Sally B. (1992). San Francisco Architecture (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Chronicle Books. pp. 27. ISBN 0-87701-897-9.