Ethereum

Highrise #61

Collection

Highrises

Description

**Union Ferry Depot** **Art by:** Chris Hytha **Story by:** Mark Houser Transcontinental railroad travelers ended their westward journey not by train but by boat at this station, which handled up to 47 million passengers a year. When the 1906 earthquake struck, it stopped the 22-foot clock, but the terminal and tower survived largely intact, much to the relief of refugees forced to flee across the bay. New York architect A. Page Brown snagged the job after designing a tomb for Charles Crocker, president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which supplied most ferry traffic. Politicians worried over the bidding, and Brown's payment was frozen during construction; before the dispute was resolved, he died from injuries sustained after his horsecart went off a bridge. Bridges — the Bay and the Golden Gate — also killed off ferry service. An elevated Embarcadero Freeway added insult to injury, barricading the building from Market Street. Demolition talk roused defenders like Herb Caen, who wrote: "The waterfront without the Ferry Tower would be like a birthday cake without a candle." Ironically, another earthquake essentially saved the structure — the 1989 Loma Prieta tremor so damaged the freeway that it was razed, releasing the forlorn terminal from its isolation. It has since had an extensive facelift and has been reborn as a marketplace, the handsome grand nave illuminated by its original 660-foot skylight. Even the ferries have returned.

Traits

Style

Beaux-Arts

City

San Francisco

Region