San Francisco’s historic places offer a treasure trove of the city’s past and present. From the iconic Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz Island – which holds some of America’s most notorious criminals – these historical landmarks serve as tangible symbols of its multidimensional identity.
Visit the Palace of Fine Arts to travel back in time, as it was built for the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition and also serves as San Francisco City Hall.
Lotta’s Fountain
This fountain, located at the intersection of Market, Kearny, and Geary Streets has an interesting past. Most notably it played a crucial role during and immediately following the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires, when survivors met here to try reuniting their families.
Charlotte “Lotta” Crabtree began her professional acting and dancing career as a child actor and dancer during the Gold Rush saloon performances that earned her the name of “The Nation’s Darling.” By 1875 she had amassed enough wealth to purchase this fountain for her beloved city of San Francisco.
The opening ceremony was an impressive event attended by Mayor and city elites. Lotta’s aunt represented her and took the inaugural ceremonial sip from the fountain – in line with earlier English drinking fountain ceremonies intended to demonstrate its safety and its intended use across class lines.
Sutro Baths
The Baths were more than a swimming pool; they were an attraction in themselves. There were restaurants and bars, multiple levels for promenading, a museum of curios curated by Sutro from around the world (including a stuffed polar bear), circus tent, amphitheater, and even space dedicated to music performance.
Natural pools were enhanced with slides, rafts, swings, trapezes and rings to create an exhilarating spectacle of athletic competition, spontaneous play and acrobatic displays reminiscent of Wild West exuberant optimism while remaining within culture and civilization.
Sutro family was eager to recoup its substantial investment in the Baths. When no buyer showed an interest, John Harris arrived and changed everything.
Alban Towne Columns
Ionic columns and an entablature framing this mansion’s entrance survived the 1906 earthquake and fire that devastated most of Nob Hill. Built for railroad tycoon Alban Towne by architect Arthur Page Brown in Bryn Mawr style popular at that time, Towne’s mansion was among many owned by members of “Big Four”, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, Collis P Huntington and Mark Hopkins, that perished as part of this catastrophe.
Arnold Genthe, an esteemed photographer, captured images of destruction throughout the city after the earthquake struck; one such photograph became iconic: its Portico at Lloyd Lake.
Caroline Towne donated an entryway to San Francisco in 1909, moving it from its previous site at Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park to its current one at Lloyd Lake near Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park. It soon earned the name Portals of the Past from poet Charles Kellogg Field’s quote that refers to San Francisco’s resilience in spite of tragedy.
Mission Dolores
Mission Dolores basilica stands as an iconic landmark within San Francisco and stands as one of only 21 California missions that survived intact; serving as witness to many major historical events that shaped San Francisco including Mexican War, Gold Rush and 1906 earthquake.
In 1776, an original adobe mission was constructed and initially named for St Francis of Assisi; its name later changed to reflect Arroyo de Nuestra Seora de los Dolores Creek nearby. Furthermore, this site served as burial ground for Yelamu people as well as becoming Father Junipero Serra’s final resting place (he founded California’s initial nine missions).
The mission was a significant point of interaction between Indians and Spanish explorers, evidenced by archaeological finds including necklace beads and tinklers made from copper containers cut and rolled so as to produce a jingling sound when worn by its inhabitants.
