San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Neighborhood Spotlight
Aptly named, the Financial District is home to Fortune 500 companies and landmarks.
The Transamerica Pyramid alone makes San Francisco’s skyline one of the most identifiable on Earth, but there’s plenty of other architectural gems in the Financial District.
Home to Fortune 500 companies, consulates and landmarks, San Francisco’s Financial District serves as a thriving hub in one of the world’s most famous cities. There’s malls, art galleries, parks and pubic squares.
Centrally located, the Financial District enjoys proximity to Chinatown, Union Square, Jackson Square and North Beach. The Embarcadero waterfront and Ferry Building are on its eastern side. Skyscrapers are a common sight in the financial district. In addition to the aforementioned pyramid building, the neighborhood hosts all six headquarters of the Fortune 500 companies located in the city: Salesforce, Gap, PG&E, Wells Fargo, the McKesson Corporation and Charles Schwab.
There’s also a host of other headquarters in the district, including those of Bank of America, Chevron Corporation, Visa, Levi Strauss & Co. and Blue Shield.
And what would a Financial District be without a major banking institution? The head
quarters of the 12th district of the United States Federal Reserve takes residence in the Financial District. The blocks of the Financial District are defined by handsome buildings with stately architecture.
Getting around is pretty easy, too. There are more than two dozen MUNI bus and rail lines serving the neighborhood, along with a cable car line and a pair of BART stations.
The Financial District wasn’t always an epicenter of towering structures. The Great Depression and statemandated height restrictions based on earthquake concerns helped keep structures relatively short until the late 1950s. Upon lifting of the restrictions, a boom occurred and buildings grew taller. The trend exploded in the 1980s, causing extremely strict height restrictions to be put in place across the city.
Leaders from around the world congregate here. After all, the Financial District features the consulates for Mexico, Ireland, Guatemala, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom can be found here, along with the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office. TRI Commercial said there’s 30 million square feet of office space in the Financial District. This estimate only accounts for the district’s original borders, which have been expanded in recent decades. The newer portion of the Financial District is where the latest construction can be found, with buildings like 555 Mission St., the Four Seasons Hotel, the Paramount and the JPMorgan Chase Building.
The Financial District’s architecture helps San Francisco’s skyline be one of the most identifiable on Earth.