'Alcatraz' is Spanish for pelican, but to its inmates it was simply known as 'the Rock'. The West Coast's first lighthouse was built here in 1854, but it...
Alcatraz Island
Built in 1915 to designs by Arthur Brown and John Bakewell, City Hall is the epitome of the Beaux Arts style visible across the whole Civic Center. The...
1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Place (Polk Street)
The spectacular brick-built Fort Point was built between 1853 and 1861 to protect the city from a sea attack. The assault never came; the 126 cannons...
Marine Drive
Begun in 1928, this Episcopalian cathedral was once a private mansion. It was later taken over by the church and is, by the standards of most cathedrals in...
1100 California Street
Founded by a tiny band of Spanish missionaries and soldiers in 1776, and completed 15 years later, Mission Dolores is the oldest structure in the city and...
3321 16th Street
Local architect Bernard Maybeck's pièce de résistance, the Palace is a neo-classical domed rotunda supported by a curved colonnade topped with friezes and...
Lyon Street