Other Places Archives - Page 15 of 21

Lost New England Goes West: Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco

May 15, 2016May 12, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The Fairmont San Francisco, seen from the corner of California and Powell Streets in the aftermath of the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The hotel in 2015:

The Fairmont Hotel was still under construction when the 1906 earthquake hit. Structurally, it was heavily damaged, but it survived, and for a time was even used for emergency planning meetings before the fires made their way up Nob Hill. The burn stains over the windows in the first photo show the extent of the fire that gutted the hotel, but it would soon be repaired. The owners hired architect Julia Morgan to oversee the reconstruction, and the hotel opened exactly a year after the earthquake.

Nearly 40 years later, in 1945, it played a role in establishing the United Nations. While World War II was just coming to an end that summer, representatives from 50 countries met here at the hotel to draft the United Nations Charter, which was later signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, and went into effect on October 26, 1945. Since then, it has remained a prominent San Francisco hotel, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This post is part of a series of photos that I took in California this past winter. Click here to see the other posts in the “Lost New England Goes West” series.

Lost New England Goes West: California Street, San Francisco

May 15, 2016May 12, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The view looking up California Street from Sansome Street in San Francisco, in the aftermath of the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

California Street in 2015:

California Street is at the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District, and this area was hit hard by the 1906 earthquake and the subsequent fires. Most of the buildings in this scene appear to have been supported by load-bearing masonry walls, which easily crumbled as the ground shook. However, several taller buildings in this scene survived serious structural damage, including the 1904 Merchants Exchange Building in the left center, and the 1901 Kohl Building in the right center of the photo. These modern skyscrapers were built with steel frames, which have more “give” in an earthquake than brick or stone, allowing the building to bend rather than crack, and both are still standing today, amid newer and much taller skyscrapers.

The other surviving feature from this section of California Street is the cable car line, which is visible in the middle of the street in both photos. It was once one of 23 lines in the city, but after the earthquake most were replaced with less expensive electric trolleys. However, this line remained in operation because of its geography; Nob Hill in the distance was insurmountable for conventional trolleys, which did not have the traction to get up the steep grade. Cable cars, though, are literally pulled up the hill by a continuously-running cable under the street, which allows it to climb far steeper hills than the trolleys. Today, the city’s three remaining cable car lines are mostly used by tourists, but the California Street line still sees a significant number of commuters, because of its location in the Financial District.

This post is part of a series of photos that I took in California this past winter. Click here to see the other posts in the “Lost New England Goes West” series.

Lost New England Goes West: Post Street, San Francisco

May 15, 2016May 11, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The view looking up Post Street from Kearny Street in San Francisco, shortly after the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The view in 2015:

The first photo was probably taken a matter of days after the fires had subsided in San Francisco, because there does not appear to have been any work done on cleaning up after the disaster. The street is still completely covered in debris, including the mangled remains of one of the city’s steam fire engines on the right side. It was one of 38 such vehicles that the department had, along with a sizable force of over 500 men. However, after the earthquake hit they found that their firefighting capabilities were limited by the fact that the earthquake had destroyed many of the water mains. This lack of water, combined with poor leadership decisions on the part of the city government, allowed fires to spread throughout much of the city virtually unchecked.

Today, at least one of the buildings from this photo is still standing. Located in the center of the photo a block away at the corner of Grant Avenue, the Shreve Building had just opened a few months before the earthquake. It was occupied by Shreve & Co., a prominent jewelry store, and it had been specifically designed to withstand earthquakes and fires. This was put to the test very quickly, and despite the earthquake and the building being gutted by fire, it remained structurally sound and was soon repaired.

This post is part of a series of photos that I took in California this past winter. Click here to see the other posts in the “Lost New England Goes West” series.

Lost New England Goes West: US Mint, San Francisco

May 15, 2016May 9, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The old San Francisco Mint, located at the corner of Mission and Fifth Streets, in the aftermath of the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The building in 2015:

Amid the rubble and burned-out buildings left behind in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, the San Francisco Mint was one of the few buildings in the affected area that survived both the earthquake and the subsequent fires, as the first photo shows. The San Francisco branch of the US Mint was established in 1854 to handle the gold that was mined during the California Gold Rush, and this building opened 20 years later, in 1874.

At the time of the earthquake, the building was one of four US Mint facilities, and in addition to making coins it also held around $200 million in gold, which was a significant portion of the nation’s entire gold reserves. Because of this, its survival in the disaster was of vital importance, and as the fires spread across the city, the mint employees used a well on the property to fight the flames and quickly extinguish any fires that ignited on the building.

Part of the reason for the fire’s destruction across the city was the inept response of the city government, who ordered widespread evacuations instead of using every able-bodied person to assist in the firefighting efforts. This allowed entire neighborhoods to burn almost unopposed, but here at the mint it was a different situation. As a federal building, it was immune from the city’s evacuation order, and because of that its employees were able to save the building even as the city burned around them.

This building functioned as the San Francisco Mint until 1937, when the present-day mint opened on Hermann Street. Today, the old building is still standing. It was sold to the City of San Francisco for one dollar in 2003, and it is now periodically open to the public for different events.

This post is part of a series of photos that I took in California this past winter. Click here to see the other posts in the “Lost New England Goes West” series.

Lost New England Goes West: Call Building, San Francisco

May 15, 2016May 8, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The San Francisco Call Building at the corner of Market and Third Streets, in the aftermath of the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The building in 2015:

This building has been mentioned in previous posts, such as this one, and it appears prominently in many post-earthquake images of the city. Also known as the Spreckels Building, this skyscraper was completed in 1898 by Claus and John Spreckels, the owners of the San Francisco Call newspaper. At the time, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River, although some were concerned that its height put it at risk for earthquakes in a very earthquake-prone city, and also a fire hazard because, in the event of a fire on the upper floors, it would be difficult for the fire department to fight.

To reduce the risk of earthquake damage, the building was anchored to a slab of concrete 25 feet below the surface, and to address fire concerns each floor was separated from the others by concrete, and the brick exterior walls were built nearly two feet thick. Ultimately, the earthquake-proofing worked, because it survived the 1906 earthquake with minimal damage, but no amount of fireproofing could have saved it from the massive fires that spread across the city in the aftermath. The building was completely gutted, as the first photograph shows, but structurally it remained intact, and was soon repaired.

The San Francisco Call later left the building, and in 1938 it was significantly altered to its present-day appearance. Its Beaux-Arts ornamentation was stripped off, the dome at the top was removed, and the exterior was modernized to give it an Art-Deco appearance. It is virtually unrecognizable in its current appearance, and there is probably little, if anything, left from its original 1898 construction, but it is still standing today as a major landmark along Market Street.

This post is part of a series of photos that I took in California this past winter. Click here to see the other posts in the “Lost New England Goes West” series.

Lost New England Goes West: Market Street, San Francisco (3)

May 15, 2016May 6, 2016 by Derek Strahan

Another view looking northeast on Market Street, from near the corner of Fifth Street, in the aftermath of the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Market Street in 2015:

These photos were taken about a block west of the ones in the previous post, and some of the same buildings are visible in both, including the Mutual Savings Bank Building in the distance on the left side of the street, and the Call Building in the distance on the right. Although heavily altered, both survived the earthquake and are still standing today, although they are mostly hidden from view in the 2015 scene here.

The first photo shows the city in the process of cleaning up after the earthquake. Many of the other photos of Market Street shows large crowds walking down the street, apparently inspecting the damage, but most of the people in this scene are working. Some are picking up debris with shovels, while others are hauling it away in wheelbarrows. In the distance, some sort of a steam engine appears to be assisting the workers as well. In the foreground, the piles of bricks, twisted metal, and charred wood give an indication of the work that was still to be done.

In the aftermath of the disaster, the city rebuilt, and a few of the buildings in the foreground were restored, including the 1904 Flood Building to the left and the 1896 Emporium department store to the right. Today, not much is left of the pre-earthquake department store building, though. The entire building had to be rebuilt except for the Market Street facade, which was preserved. Nearly a century later, in the early 2000s, the building was again gutted and rebuilt, and converted into Westfield San Francisco. It is now occupied by Bloomingdale’s, and everything in the building is new except for the facade and a glass dome from the 1908 reconstruction.

This post is part of a series of photos that I took in California this past winter. Click here to see the other posts in the “Lost New England Goes West” series.