view of the city and bay. The site of the city is very hilly and is completely dominated by a line of high rocky elevations that run like a crescent-formed background from N.E. to S.W. across the peninsula, culminating in the S.W. in the Twin Peaks (Las Papas, “The Breasts”), 925 ft. high. Telegraph Hill in the extreme N.E., the site in 1849 of the criminal settlement called “Sydney Town” and later known as the “Latin Quarter,” is 294 ft. high; Nob Hill, where the railway and mining “kings” of the 'sixties and 'seventies of the 19th century built their homes, which only in recent years has lost its exclusiveness, is 300 ft. high; Pacific Heights, which became the site of a fashionable quarter, is still higher; and in Golden Gate Park there is Strawberry Hill, 426 ft. Hilly as it remains to-day, the site was once much more so, and has been greatly changed by man. Great hills were razed and tumbled into the bay for the gain of land; others were pierced with cuts, to conform to street grades and to the checker-board city plan adopted in the early days. An effort to induce the city to adopt, in the rebuilding after the earthquake of 1906, an artistic plan failed, and reconstruction followed practically the old plan of streets, although the buildings which had marked them had been for the most part obliterated. Some minor suggestions for improvement in arrangement only were observed. Cable lines were first practically tested in San Francisco, in 1873; since the earthquake they have given place, with slight exceptions, to electric car lines. A drive of some 20 m. may be taken along the ocean front, through the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, and a series of handsome streets in the west end. Market Street, the principal business street, is more than 3 m. long and 120 ft. broad. For nearly its full extent, excepting the immediate water-front, and running westward to Van Ness Avenue, a distance of 2 m., the buildings lining it on both sides and covering the adjoining area, a total of some 2000 acres, or 514 blocks, equivalent to 16 of the city plan, were reduced to ruins in the fire following the earthquake; only a few large buildings of so-called “fire-proof” construction remained standing on the street, and these had their interiors completely “gutted.” Repairs on the buildings left standing on this street alone involved an outlay of $5,000,000. Almost the whole of this area was built up again by 1910. As the result of the reconstruction of this section, thousands of wooden buildings, which had been a striking architectural characteristic of the city, were replaced by structures of steel, brick, and, especially, reinforced concrete. Before the earthquake wood had been employed to a large extent, partly because of the accessibility, cheapness and general excellence of redwood, but also because of the belief that it was better suited to withstand earthquake shocks. While the wooden buildings were little damaged by the shocks, the comparative non-inflammability of redwood proved no safeguard and fire swept the affected area irresistibly. In 1900 only one-thirteenth of the buildings in the city were of other material than wood. Of the 28,000 buildings destroyed in the disaster of 1906, valued approximately at $105,000,000, only 5000 were such as had involved steel, stone or brick in their construction. The new buildings, on which an estimated amount of $150,000,000 had been expended up to April 1909, and numbering 25,000 at that date, were built under stringent city ordinances governing the methods of building employed, to reduce the danger from fire to a minimum. The use of reinforced concrete as a building material received a special impetus in consequence. In size and value the new buildings generally exceed their predecessors, buildings eight to eighteen storeys in height being characteristic in the Market Street section. Owing to the complete reconstruction of its business section San Francisco is equalled by few cities in the possession of office and business buildings of the most modern type.
Buildings.—Among the buildings in the burned section restored since 1906, the Union Trust, Mutual Savings, Merchants Exchange, Crocker, Flood and the Call (newspaper) buildings are notable. Among business buildings built since the fire are the Phelan building (costing more than $2,000,000), the buildings of the Bank of California, the Alaska Commercial Company, the First National Bank and the San Francisco Savings Union, and the Chronicle (newspaper)
building. The architecture of the city until the earthquake and fire of 1906 was very heterogeneous. Comparatively few buildings were of striking merit. The old City Hall (finished in 1898), destroyed in 1906, was a great edifice of composite and original style, built of bricks of stucco facing (cost $6,000,000). Provision was made to erect a new building at a cost of $5,000,000. The Hall of justice, which houses the criminal and police courts and the police department of the city, was another fine structure. Provision was made in 1909 to replace it by a new building. Since the fire of 1906 a new Custom House has been built, costing $1,203,319. The other Federal buildings are not architecturally noteworthy. The Post Office, which withstood the fire and has since undergone repairs, is a massive modern building of granite (original cost $5,000,000). The buildings of the church and college (St Ignatius) of the Jesuits cover more than a city block; those of the Dominicans are equally extensive, and are architecturally imposing. There are several magnificent hotels. The Palace, an enormous structure covering a city block (it had 1200 rooms and cost more than $3,000,000), known as the oldest and most famous hostelry of the city, and architecturally interesting, was completely destroyed by the fire, but has been replaced by a new building. The St Francis, completely reconstructed since the fire, and the Fairmont are new. A revival of the old Spanish-Moorish “mission” (monastery) style has exercised an increasing influence and is altogether the most pleasing development of Californian architecture. Many buildings or localities, not in themselves remarkable, have interesting associations with the history and life of the city. Such are Pioneer Hall, the home of the Society of California Pioneers (1850), endowed by James Lick; Portsmouth Square, where the flag of the United States was raised on the 8th of July 1846, and where the Committee of Vigilance executed criminals in 1851 and 1856; Union Square, a fashionable shopping centre, decorated with a column raised in honour of the achievements of the United States Navy in the Spanish-American War of 1898; also the United States Branch Mint, associated with memories of the early mining days (the present mint dates only from 1874).
Parks.—The parks of the city are extensive and fine. Golden Gate Park (about 1014 acres) was a waste of barren sand dunes when acquired by the municipality in 1870, but skilful planting and cultivation have entirely transformed its character. It is now beautiful with semi-tropic vegetation. The Government presidio or military reservation (1542 acres) is practically another city park, more favourably situated and of better land than Golden Gate Park, and better developed. A beautiful drive follows the shore, giving views of the Golden Gate and the ocean. Near the W. end of Golden Gate Park are the ocean beach, the Cliff House, repeatedly burned down and rebuilt, the last time in 1907—a public resort on a rocky cliff overhanging the sea—the seal rocks, frequented all the year round by hundreds of sea-lions, Sutro Heights, the beautiful private grounds of the late Adolph Sutro, long ago opened to the public, and the Sutro Baths, one of the largest and finest enclosed baths and winter gardens of the world. Nearly in the centre of the city is the old Franciscan mission (San Francisco de Asis, popularly known as Mission Dolores), a landmark of San Francisco’s history (1776).
Libraries, Museums, &c.—The Public Library has more than 100,000 volumes (it had more than 165,000 volumes before the fire of 1906, but then lost all but about 25,000). That left to the city by Adolph Sutro had more than 200,000 volumes, but suffered from the fire and earthquake of 1906 and now has about 125,000. It included remarkable incunabula, 16th-century literature, and scientific literature; and among its special collections are Lord Macaulay's library of British Parliamentary papers, a great collection of English Commonwealth pamphlets, one on the history of Mexico, and other rarities. The Mechanics-Mercantile Library (35,000 volumes) was formed before the fire of 1906 (when the entire collection of 200,000 volumes was destroyed) by the merging of the Mechanics Institute Library (116,000 volumes) and the Mercantile Library (founded 1852; 80,000 volumes). The Law Library, the libraries of the San Francisco Medical Society, and the French library of La Ligue Nationale Française (1874), were destroyed in the fire of 1906 and re-established. The building of the California Academy of Sciences (founded 1853, endowed by James Lick with about $600,000) was destroyed in 1906. In Golden Gate Park is a museum owned by the city with exhibits of a wide range, including history, ethnology, natural history, the fine arts, &c. Very fine mineral exhibits by the State Mining Bureau, and California Agricultural and Pacific Coast commercial displays by the California Development Board, are housed in the Ferry Building, and there is a Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park. The California School of Mechanic Arts was endowed by James Lick with $540,000. The San Francisco Institute of Art, conducted by the San Francisco Art Association (organized 1872), known until the fire of 1906 as the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art, was deeded (1893) to the Regents of the State University in trust for art purposes by a later owner. The building was totally destroyed and the institute was re-established under the new name on the same site. The school conducted by this institute had a fine collection of casts, presented to the city by the government of France. It is said to be the largest university art school of the country. The law, medical, dental, chemical and pharmaceutical departments of the State University are also in the city. Among other educational institutions are the Cogswell Polytechnic College, the Wilmerding School
