SAN FRANCISCO | 101 California Street | 600 FT / 183 M | 48 FLOORS | 1982

[plinko]

One of the better buildings by Philip Johnson during this era (much more in common with say Transco than AT&T), 101 California Street anchors the lower end of California as it approaches the intersection with Market. Despite its height (3rd tallest in the city when completed, now tied for 6th), it's quite buried in the skyline and difficult to appreciate from a distance.

The tower is multi-faceted in plan to the extent that from a distance it reads as a cylinder. These serrations in reflective glass, combined with adding some setbacks toward the top of the tower (not unlike what was done by SOM on the BofA up the street) create a visual play with light in stark contrast to the typical Market Street granite-clad boxes.

One other curious fact about the plan of this tower is that the 'cylinder' doesn't go all the way around. There is a small section cut out on the California Street side of the building. The resultant flat facade is given a light colored precast cladding to match the base. It's a subtle and somewhat odd cut, but doesn't take away from the overall form of the building.

Johnson has also done something interesting at the base, by starting the office floors some 60ft up, but carrying down the forest of columns into a clear glass prism lobby. It's not terribly engaging at the street, but is more visually interesting than just crashing the building form onto a barren plaza.

A stair-stepped garden was re-done to honor those who died in a mass shooting in the building that occurred in 1993.