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Federal Office Building

Architect
Arthur Brown, Jr.
Year
1934
Style
Renaissance Revival
City
San Francisco, CA
Federal Office Building
Photo: Dreamyshade, CC BY-SA 4.0
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This federal building on United Nations Plaza was designed by Arthur Brown, Jr. in a Renaissance Revival style and completed in 1934 as the last piece of San Francisco's Civic Center complex, a seven-building group of government buildings, a library, and an opera house rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed more than 28,000 structures. The Civic Center followed a 1899 plan by English architect B.J.S. Cahill, applying City Beautiful principles of Beaux-Arts design and classically inspired, monumental architecture across the whole complex.

the building

Capstone of the Civic Center. The Federal Office Building was the final structure completed in San Francisco's seven-building Civic Center complex, which also included government buildings, a public library, and an opera house, all conceived under a single City Beautiful plan.

the style

The building's Renaissance Revival design fits the Beaux-Arts, classically inspired vocabulary that the City Beautiful-era Civic Center plan required of every building in the complex.

More on Renaissance Revival

the architect

Arthur Brown, Jr. was a major San Francisco architect who designed the Federal Office Building as the capstone of the Civic Center he helped complete in 1934.

significance

The Federal Office Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the San Francisco Civic Center Historic District, which is itself a National Historic Landmark.

nearby

All 99 buildings in San Francisco