650 California Street
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2007) |
| 650 California Street | |
 |
|
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Location | 650 California Street San Francisco |
| Status | Completed |
| Opening | 1964[1] |
| Use | Office[2] |
| Roof | 142 m (466 ft)[1] |
| Floor count | 34[1] |
| Companies | |
| Architect | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill[2] |
650 California Street, also known as the Hartford Building is a 34 story, 142 m, (466 feet) office tower on the northwestern edge of San Francisco's Financial District.[1] The tower is located on California Street on the edge of Chinatown, and not far from 555 California Street. 650 California is visible from every direction except from the southeast, where the Financial District skyscrapers block the view.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Description
The building was designed by Edward Charles ("Chuck") Bassett of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for Hartford Insurance, its initial tenant.[1] It is architecturally significant, featuring a tall modernist lobby, high ceilings, and an exterior skeleton of floor-to-ceiling windows recessed into a square gridwork of precast white reinforced concrete.[3]
When this tower was completed in 1964, it was the second in San Francisco larger than 400,000 square feet or 37,000 square meters.[4] It also became California's tallest building, replacing both the Russ Building in San Francisco and the Los Angeles City Hall in Los Angeles, California.[1] Later skyscrapers in both San Francisco and Los Angeles took the title of California's tallest from this building.
Key tenants include Littler Mendelson (world headquarters), Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Credit Suisse, Jefferies & Co., Fairmont Hotel Management, Fliesler Meyer LLP, Jones Hall Law Corporation, and KBCW (former).[4] A key scene from the documentary Live Nude Girls Unite (2000) was filmed in the lobby and a Littler conference room, where strippers met with attorneys for Littler, who was representing their employer, the Lusty Lady, in an effort to prevent the strippers from organizing a labor union.[5]
650 California was acquired for USD $160 million by the Pivotal Group in 2000,[4] then sold to a Private Investor in 2005.[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] Photos
 View from the top of California Street Looking towards the financial district with the Bay Bridge in the background |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g "650 California Street". Emporis. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
- ^ a b Hartford Building. SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
- ^ Betty J. Blum (1989). Edward Charles Bassett (1921-1999), oral history. Art Institute of Chicago.
- ^ a b c Pivotal LLC purchases 650 California Street. Pivotal Group (October 13, 2000). Retrieved on 2009-09-24.
- ^ David Steinberg. Live Nude Girls Unite. Nearby Café. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
- ^ 650 California Street. Pivotal Group. Retrieved on 2009-09-24.
| Preceded by PacBell Building |
Tallest Building in San Francisco 1965—1967 142m |
Succeeded by 44 Montgomery Street |
| Preceded by Los Angeles City Hall |
Tallest Building in California 1965—1967 142m |
Succeeded by 44 Montgomery Street |
