One California

This article is about the San Francisco office building. For the Los Angeles office building, see One California Plaza. For the bank, see OneCalifornia Bank. For the anti-partition California political group, see Six Californias.
One California
Alternative names Airtouch Building
Mutual Benefit Life Building
General information
Type Commercial offices
Location One California Street
San Francisco, California
Coordinates 37°47′36″N 122°23′50″W / 37.7932°N 122.3972°WCoordinates: 37°47′36″N 122°23′50″W / 37.7932°N 122.3972°W
Completed 1969
Height
Roof 133.5 m (438 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 32
Floor area 484,512 sq ft (45,012.6 m2)
Lifts/elevators 13
Design and construction
Architect Welton Becket Associates
Developer Shorenstein Company
References
[1][2][3][4][5]

One California is a 133.5 m (438 ft), 32-story skyscraper completed in 1969 in the Financial District of San Francisco, California. It is the 31st-tallest building in the city. The architect of the building was Welton Becket Associates.

History

The building was constructed on the site of the previously demolished Fife Building, and was one of the earliest modern skyscrapers constructed in the city. It was the fifth tallest building in San Francisco when it was completed, but is no longer in the top 30.[6] One California was one of three buildings, the other two being 555 California Street and McKesson Plaza, that was featured in a 1970 Newsweek article widely thought to have coined the term "Manhattanization".[2]

In 1995, Shorenstein became the sole owner of the tower and invested US$5 million in an extensive lobby and plaza renovation.[7]

Corporate signage

One California is one of very few[note 1] downtown office skyscrapers in San Francisco to feature corporate signage at the top of the tower. When it was constructed, the building's signage read "Mutual Benefit Life" for the insurance company.[8] Some time after the building went up, the San Francisco Planning Code was changed to prohibit signs above 100 feet (30 m) on new buildings.[9] Existing buildings were grandfathered in and allowed for replacing signs as long as the new sign is no larger in surface area and projection than the existing sign.[9]

After Mutual Benefit Life went out of business, the building's sign was changed in April 1995[7] to the logo for AirTouch, which had its headquarters in the building.[10] In October 2005, the AirTouch signs were removed and replaced with the current US Bank logo.[11]

Tenants

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 425 California Street and the Bank of California Tower are other examples.

References

  1. ↑ One California at CTBUH Skyscraper Database
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 One California at Emporis
  3. ↑ One California at SkyscraperPage
  4. ↑ One California at Structurae
  5. ↑ "One California Street". CBRE. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  6. ↑ List of tallest buildings in San Francisco
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ginsberg, Steve (March 3, 1995). "Shorenstein's solo run: real estate firm inks refinancing and buyout deals". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved March 11, 2013. Workers have already taken down the building's Mutual Benefit Life sign and will put up AirTouch's logo in April.
  8. ↑ philip_wgtn_nz. "Downtown SF Aug 1971". Flickr.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lawrence B. Badiner, Zoning Administrator (January 25, 2007). "Letter of Determination - One California Street". Retrieved March 11, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Contact Information." AirTouch. Retrieved on January 10, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Spider Delivers on Rigging Commitments for Sign Replacement Project". SafeWorks, LLC. October 7, 2005. Retrieved March 11, 2013. All rigging moves were required to be completed during the day under tight time and safety constraints to enable the contractor to perform the replacement of the existing 'Airtouch' signs with the new 'US Bank' signs under lights at night.
  12. ↑ Grosvenor - Contact
  13. ↑ Salesforce.com Expands in San Francisco

External links