Built 1940 SFDL # 107 Opened 1940 | NRHP Reference # 79000537 Designated SFDL 1980 Area 7,700 m² Added to NRHP 16 November 1979 | |
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Built by George A. Fuller Construction Co. Similar McKesson Plaza, 333 Market Building, San Francisco Ferry Buil, Rincon Park, San Francisco City Hall | ||
Rincon center mural
Rincon Center is a major and public complex of shops, restaurants, offices, and apartments in South of Market in Downtown San Francisco, California. It comprises an entire city block, bounded by Mission, Howard, Spear, and Steuart Streets. There are two buildings.
Contents
Rincon center
Rincon Annex
The original Rincon Annex building is a former United States Post Office, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in the Streamline Moderne style, and completed in 1940. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The exterior of the building is decorated by dolphins in stone relief friezes above the doorways and windows.
Murals
The interior features the renowned "History of California" mural, composed of 27 watercolor murals painted by the Russian immigrant muralist Anton Refregier, from 1941 to 1948 under the Federal Art Project of the Work Projects Administration. The murals, in the Social realism style, depict the history of California and San Francisco's role in it. As the murals were completed immediately following World War II, they generated fierce controversies. Refregier's detractors criticized his artistic style and questioned his political leanings. The controversy eventually reached the U.S. Congress, where critics called for the murals to be destroyed. Ironically, it was the murals that led to the preservation of the post office lobby as part of the Rincon Center development.
1980s expansion
In the 1980s the building was made available by the United States Postal Service for development acquisition. The property was eventually developed by a partnership headed by Perini Land & Development Company. The design of the late 1980s mixed-use Rincon Center was led by Scott Johnson of Pereira Associates, the firm founded by William Pereira, designer of the Transamerica Pyramid, the tallest building in San Francisco.
A new 23-story mixed-use building was added on the south side of the block that contains a new post office, offices, and 320 apartments. In addition, two stories were added atop Underwood's original Rincon Annex building and a large atrium was cut into the interior. The complex was completed in 1988.
The atrium has a food court on the lower level and balconies connected to office space on the upper levels. The atrium is topped by a 200-foot (61 m) long skylight and features the central and distinctive floor to skylight "Water Column" installation art work. It was designed by the contemporary artist Doug Hollis. The water feature is a continuous 85-foot (26 m) column of water drops, coming from an eight-foot by eight-foot acrylic glass box with some 4,000 holes in it placed at the ceiling level.
Murals history
San Francisco City Guides leads free walking tours of the murals twice a month.