101 California Street
- Architect
- Philip Johnson
- Year
- 1982
- Style
- Postmodernism
- City
- San Francisco, CA
101 California Street is a 48-story, 600-foot office tower completed in 1982 by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, its faceted cylindrical form rising over a granite plaza with a fountain and flower beds near Market Street. Johnson and Burgee used a nearly identical glass entrance that same year for 101 Park Avenue in New York. In 2012, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC bought a 92% stake in the tower from Nippon Life Insurance for $910 million.
the building
The cylindrical lobby. The tower's faceted, cylindrical shape wraps a seven-story, glass-enclosed lobby. The building holds 1,250,000 square feet of office space served by 32 elevators: 22 for the main tower, four for a triangular annex, and two reserved strictly for floors 45 through 48.
The plaza. A granite plaza with flower beds and a fountain fronts the tower; every holiday season a platform of oversized Christmas ornaments is installed there.
the style
Postmodernism (c. 1975–1995): Classical bits quoted at the wrong scale in bold colors: columns, pediments, and keystones with a wink.
More on Postmodernismthe architect
Philip Johnson designed 101 California Street with his longtime partner John Burgee. The same duo used a nearly identical glass-enclosed entrance that year for 101 Park Avenue in New York City.
More on Philip Johnsonmore by Philip Johnson
nearby
- Matson Building
- Pacific Gas and Electric Company General Office Building and Annex
- Hyatt Regency San Francisco
- Federal Reserve Bank Building
- Mills Building
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