The San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center (SFWMPAC) is located in San Francisco, California, and is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. It covers three hectares (7.5 acres) in San Francisco's Civic Center Historic District with 7,500 seats in its several venues. Opera, symphony, modern and classical dance, theatre, recitals, plays, lectures, meetings, receptions, special screenings and gala events all have a place at the Center.
The complex was developed in the years following the First World War on the two blocks facing San Francisco City Hall on the west. The project resulted in the construction of a matched pair of buildings, the War Memorial Opera House and a multi-purpose building next door, the Veterans Building, both of which opened in 1932. The latter housed the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from 1932 to 1994. In 1980 the new Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall was opened on a site across the street from the Opera House.
The SFWMPAC has historical significance. In 1945, the United Nations Charter was signed in the Veterans Building's Herbst Theatre by the group of 50 founding nations, following the two-month-long United Nations conference in the Opera House. In 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco, formally ending World War II hostilities with Japan, was signed in the Opera House. The Center has been host to U.S. presidents and foreign heads of state. In 1990 the Center was chosen to host the first Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony, and this prize is now presented annually at the Center.
The following venues make up the SFWMPAC: