The Unique OF South OF Market (SoMa) San Francisco

The Best 10 Landmarks & Historical Buildings in SoMa, San Francisco, CA

1) Cupid’s Span

Landmarks & Historical Buildings, Parks

Embarcadero, SoMa, South Beach / 

The Embarcadero at Folsom St San Francisco,CA 94107

With “Cupid’s Span,” the monumental new outdoor sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, San Francisco may have begun to reverse its embarrassing record on choices of art in public places.

The 60-foot-high painted fiberglass and stainless-steel sculpture represents a bow and arrow — traditional attributes of the imp of love — shooting straight down into a sliver of pedestrian park that borders the Embarcadero, opposite the end of Folsom Street.

“At first there’s the man-in-the-street opinion,” Oldenburg said, “but then there’s the more nuanced response. We don’t copy the objects we use, we try to transform them and we hope they go on transforming as you look at them. The idea of endless public dialogue — visual dialogue — is very important to us.”

Born in Sweden and a resident of the United States since childhood, Oldenburg, 73, is renowned as a pioneer of Pop Art and Happenings. His early sculptures — hard things, such as a toilet and a drum set, made soft, and small things, such as a hamburger and an eraser, made large — won him an immediate following in and beyond the art world. His masterly drawings envisioned common objects blown up to architectural scale. Eventually he began to realize some of these ideas as artworks for public settings.

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2) Martin Luther King Jr Memorial

Landmarks & Historical Buildings

Financial District, SoMa

Landmarks & Historical Buildings

Financial District, SoMa, Union Square
3rd St & Market St
San Francisco, CA 94104

Lotta’s fountain is a historical fountain located at the intersection of Market Street, where Geary and Kearny Streets connect in downtown San Francisco, California.

History

Lotta’s Fountain in 1905, looking east along Market Street, the San Francisco Ferry Building’s clock tower in the distance.

The fountain was commissioned by Lotta Crabtree as a gift to the city of San Franscisco. It was dedicated on September 9, 1875.

The cast iron fountain served as a meeting point during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and resulting fires, which is commemorated by a metal panel attached to the monument. Another panel, installed in 1911, mentions legendary opera soprano Luisa Tetrazzini, who sang for the people of San Francisco at the fountain on Christmas Eve, 1910. The bronze column was added in 1916 to equal the height of new lights being installed along Market Street.

Commemorations of the earthquake, including a dwindling pool of survivors, are held every year at 5:12 a.m. on April 18 at the intersection. It was relocated from its original location at 3rd, Market and Kearny in 1974 during the renovation of Market Street. In 1999, the fountain, which had suffered neglect in the past decades, was totally refurbished to its 1875 appearance. It is painted with a metallic gold-brown paint. The lion’s head-motif fountain stations located on the sides of the column flow during daytime hours.

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4) Gandhi Statue

Landmarks & Historical Buildings

Embarcadero, SoMa, South Beach
1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94199

Mohandas K. Gandhi is a 1988 bronze sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi, located in the plaza of the San Francisco Ferry Building along the Embarcadero in San Francisco, California, United States. The 8-foot (2.4 m) tall sculpture was a gift from the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation.

In 2010, a group called the Organization for Minorities of India, which formed to protest the oppression of Indian minorities, demanded the removal of the sculpture, claiming Gandhi was a racist “who harbored violent urges”.

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5) Justin Herman Plaza

Landmarks & Historical Buildings

Financial District, SoMa, South Beach
1 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94101

Justin Herman Plaza

At the eastern end of Market Street is Justin Herman Plaza, opened in 1972, named for M. Justin Herman, executive director of the SF Redevelopment Agency from 1959 to 1971. It is frequented by nearby office workers on lunch break and by families with small children. Summer features free daytime concerts while winter features an ice skating rink. The Critical Mass (cycling) bicycle rides have gathered the plaza for over twenty years. The controversial Vaillancourt Fountain dominates one end of the plaza.

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6) Pause – Experiment

Landmarks & Historical Buildings

Financial District, SoMa, Union Square
Market St in Union Sq
San Francisco, AL

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7) Pacific Telephone Building

Landmarks & Historical Buildings

Financial District, SoMa
140 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105

Called a “Monument to Talk,” The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company opened 140 New Montgomery in 1925 as an icon of design and a statement of the power of the latest technology. 140 is being recrafted as the ultimate San Francisco workplace by embracing the design intent of Timothy Pflueger.

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8) Crouching Spider by Louise Bourgeois

Arts & Entertainment, Landmarks & Historical Buildings

Embarcadero, Financial District, SoMa, South Beach
Embarcadero at Mission
San Francisco, CA 94105

San Francisco, April 14, 2009 – Luis R. Cancel, Director of Cultural Affairs of the San Francisco Arts Commission, announces the removal of Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture, Crouching Spider. On loan to the City since November 2007, the 2 ½ ton monumental bronze arachnid has enjoyed pride of place at the Embarcadero’s Entry Plaza at Pier 14. Louise Bourgeois, 97, is considered to be one of the world’s most important and influential living artists. The sculpture, which was originally cast in 2003 from the artist’s famous Spider series, was made specifically for display in San Francisco. Initially lent for eight months by the artist, courtesy of Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco and Cheim & Read, New York, the sculpture’s stay was extended due to popular support. On Friday, April 24, Crouching Spider will be disassembled with the greatest of care into ten pieces and transported to a private collection in Houston, Texas.

“Crouching Spider set a new precedent for public art in San Francisco. It has been truly wonderful to have such a magnificent sculpture by a world-class artist placed at the entrance of the City were it was viewed and enjoyed by thousands of people,” stated Luis R. Cancel, Director of Cultural Affairs. “We thank Mayor Newsom for his enthusiasm and support for the public art program. His support reflects his belief that the arts are a vital part of the life of the city, and we look forward to continuing to enrich the community by bringing new works by leading local and national artists to the Bay Area.”

Crouching Spider was placed on the Embarcadero courtesy of the San Francisco Port Commission. The sculpture was part of the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Temporary Projects in Natural Settings Initiative and was funded by the Art Enrichment monies generated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s capital projects. Other recent temporary projects include: an installation of eight monumental bronze sculptures by the celebrated Spanish artist Manolo Valdés at the Civic Center (April–September 2008); San Francisco artist Tony Labat’s sculpture Big Peace IV on Patricia’s Green on Octavia Blvd. in Hayes Valley (December 20098–June 2009); and Patrick Dougherty’s environmental sculpture, The Upper Crust at Joseph L. Alioto Performing Arts Piazza (February–November 2009).

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9) Corazón Under the Dome

Landmarks & Historical Buildings

SoMa, Union Square
865 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone number (415) 495-5656 FREE

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Westfield San Francisco Centre, the city’s premiere destination for world-class fashion, entertainment and dining, is thrilled to present its third annual 3-D light show Corazon Under the Dome and a live acoustical performance series featuring Bay Area artists July 4-August 17.

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10) Path of Gold Light Standards

Landmarks & Historical Buildings

Financial District, SoMa, South Beach
1 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94105

The 327 Path of Gold standards are a legacy from the City Beautiful movement of the early 20th century, which also gave San Francisco the Civic Center. Their distinctive color and pattern of light identify Market Street from distant viewpoints.

The Winning of the West bases by sculptor Arthur Putnam feature three bands of historical subjects: covered wagons, mountain lions, and alternating prospectors and Indians.

Willis Polk designed the base and pole in 1908 for United Railways’ trolley poles with street lights. The City required the company to provide highly ornamental poles, with lamps and electricity, as the price of permitting the much opposed overhead trolley wires.

The tops were designed in 1916 by sculptor Leo Lentelli and engineer Walter D’Arcy Ryan, whose lighting designs for the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915 had inspired emulation on the City’s principal thoroughfare.

This project was linked to graft payments to Mayor Schmitz, political boss Abe Ruef, and seventeen of the eighteen members of the Board of Supervisors.

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