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| 100 McAllister Street | |
100 McAllister |
|
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Location | 100 McAllister Street San Francisco |
| Status | Completed |
| Opening | January 19301 |
| Use | Mixed, primarily residential |
| Height | |
| Roof | 308 ft (94 m)2 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 28 |
| Floor area | 280,000 sq ft (26,000 m2)3 |
| Companies | |
| Architect | Miller & Pflueger Lewis P. Hobart |
100 McAllister Street is a residential apartment tower located in San Francisco, California, owned and operated by the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. It includes mixed-use offices on various floors and, on the 24th floor, San Francisco's first cocktail lounge with a panoramic view: the Skyroom.1
The building has been known by several names, including William Taylor Hotel and Temple Methodist Episcopal Church,4 Empire Hotel,5 McAllister Tower6 and McAllister Tower Apartments.2
Contents |
History
Church and hotel
The skyscraper at 100 McAllister began with a plan by four of the largest Methodist Episcopal congregations in San Francisco to sell their various churches and properties and combine their assets to build a superchurch with a hotel on top of it. From their initial $800,0007 they bought property at McAllister and Leavenworth streets and hired the architectural firm of Miller and Pflueger to design the edifice. Timothy L. Pflueger was chosen as the designer. The new hotel was to be named after William Taylor, a Methodist Episcopal street preacher and missionary who formed the first Methodist church in San Francisco. The large church was named Temple Methodist Episcopal Church, or simply "Temple Methodist".7
Beginning in 1925, Pflueger designed a 308 ft (94 m), 28-story step-back skyscraper made of brick framed with steel along the lines of his just-completed Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company Building. Its main decorative theme was neo-Gothic, expressed strongly in the three gothic arches which formed the main street-level entrance for the church. The Great Hall, the large worship area located within the second, third and fourth floors was to seat 1,500 churchgoers and a smaller chapel was designed for 125 more. A grand pipe organ from Skinner Organ Company was installed with four manuals controlling 3,881 pipes.8 A stained glass window was placed 80 feet3 above the sanctuary, representing Faith, Love and Hope in three tall, narrow panels. Two assembly halls could be combined to hold 1,100 attendees for theatrical or athletic events. 500 guest rooms and 32 tower apartments were intended to bring a steady flow of visitors and a source of profit to the church. Though never the tallest building in San Francisco, it was to be the tallest hotel on the Pacific Coast for many decades.
In a dispute, the architectural firm of Miller and Pflueger was fired from the project, and was replaced by Lewis P. Hobart.1 Miller and Pflueger sued for US$81,600, alleging that Hobart's design was little changed from Pflueger's original. Three months after the hotel and church opened in January 1930, Miller and Pflueger won US$38,000 in a favorable court decision.1
Dedication of the church's pipe organ took place August 31, 1930.8 The combined congregation was very satisfied with their new place of worship.7
Eventually costing US$2.8 million, the building's completion required several rounds of new financing from its investors in order to overcome unanticipated expenses. Unfortunately, the idea of a hotel above a church didn't attract the requisite number of guests and the venture failed to turn a profit.7
Empire Hotel
By November 1936, enough debt had accumulated that a bondholder's protective committee foreclosed on the property, buying it back for US$750,000.7 The Temple Methodist congregation lost its investment and was asked to leave. The Skinner Opus pipe organ was removed to be sold to Occidental College in Los Angeles and rebuilt in their Thorne Hall.8 The three-piece stained glass window was removed and exhibited, eventually making its way to Stockton, California where it was installed in the Morris Chapel at the University of the Pacific. The 100 McAllister building itself was refurbished: the church's floor area was given over to parking, a coffee shop was built in part of the first floor lobby6 and the new enterprise opened again as the Empire Hotel, noted for having the first view lounge in the area, the Skyroom on the 24th floor.1
Federal offices
At the beginning of United States involvement in World War II, the US government bought the building and converted it to federal offices, officer billets,3 spaces used by the Army's Ordnance Procurement department, a passport agency and an induction center run by the local draft board.5 The high vaulted ceiling of the Great Hall worship center was hidden by a dropped ceiling.3 After the war, the Internal Revenue Service moved offices into the building.3
Many federal groups at 100 McAllister moved their offices in 1959-1960 to the newly-built federal building at 450 Golden Gate Avenue, later named the Phillip Burton Federal Building. Occupancy at 100 McAllister was low, though the United States Army Corps of Engineers moved their San Francisco District offices there in the 1960s,9 and local draftees were still required to appear there through the late 1960s.10
UC Hastings
In 1978, the University of California, Hastings College of the Law bought the building and began two years of refurbishment and redesign. 248 units were modernized for residential use by law students, and the tower opened in 1981 with a combination of compact studio units as well as larger one- and two-bedroom apartments taking up a total of 17 floors.3 The building is casually referred to as "The Tower" by Hastings faculty and students.6
The Skyroom with its spectacular 360-degree view reopened in 1999 as the James Edgar Hervey Skyroom, in honor of alumnus James Edgar Hervey, Class of 1950, a prominent San Diego trial lawyer.6 It is open as a space for student study by day (no alcohol allowed) and is available for special events in the evenings. Other floors of the building hold offices, apartments and residential conveniences. The mezzanine level contains a compact fitness center, the third and fourth floors contain classrooms and offices for political action groups and legal assistance organizations and the 22nd and 23rd floors hold publishing headquarters for a number of scholarly journals.6
The Great Hall remains unrefurbished and has been judged by UC Hastings to be in need of substantial repair and improvement, including major architectural engineering work.3 The college has plans to create a 400-seat performing arts venue within the Great Hall.3
References
- ^ a b c d e Poletti, Therese; Tom Paiva (2008). Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1568987560. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=tcUhJJJwCoIC.
- ^ a b Emporis.com. McAllister Tower Apartments
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hastings College of the Law. Institutional Master Plan. EIP Associates, March 2004
- ^ TIME. March 17, 1930. San Francisco Skyscraper-Church
- ^ a b Crowe, Michael (2007). San Francisco Art Deco. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0738547344. http://books.google.com/books?id=zT6AABS0McAC.
- ^ a b c d e UC Hastings. Student Services. Student Guidebook
- ^ a b c d e TIME. May 24, 1937. San Francisco Marriage
- ^ a b c Aeolian-Skinner. List of Opus instruments
- ^ Simon, Ted (2001). The River Stops Here: Saving Round Valley, A Pivotal Chapter in California's Water Wars. University of California Press. ISBN 0520230566. http://books.google.com/books?id=dtSzIBwbAAAC.
- ^ US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. United States of America v. Lawrence Joseph Dell'anno. 436 F.2d 1198. Jan. 4, 1971 "You are hereby ordered to report for induction at Local Board 42, 100 McAllister St., San Francisco, Calif. at 6:45 A.M. on the 5th day of July 1967."
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 18 December 2008, at 18:14.
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