Back to photostream

San Francisco - Civic Center: San Francisco City Hall - James Rolph, Jr..

This bronze sculptural bust of James Rolph, Jr., was executed in 1936 by sculptor Haig Patigian and installed inside the Polk Street entrance of San Francisco City Hall in 1937. James “Sunny Jim” Rolph, Jr. (1869–1934) served as the 30th Mayor of San Francisco from 1912 to 1931, and as the 27th Governor of California from 1931 to 1934.

 

 

San Francisco City Hall, at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, was built from 1913-1915 by architect Arthur Brown, Jr., replacing an building destroyed during the 1906 Earthquake. The vast Beaux-Arts French Renaissance building covers over 500,000 square feet over two full blocks and features the fifth largest dome in the world, rising 301-feet, 5.5-inches from the curb--13-feet, 7¾-inches higher than the U.S. Capitol.

 

The exterior is made of gray granite from the foothills of the Sierra. The interior is lavishly finished in California marble, Indiana sandstone and Manchurian oak. The dome, owing to Mansart's Les Invalides, has a diameter of 86-feet at its springing line and was originally covered with gold leaf gilded copper, but has since been restored with gold leaf on a special paint. Below the dome is the defining architectural element--the Rotunda and Great staircase, an open stairwell bookended by two-storied loggia on the north and south, extending from the second to the top of the third story and articulated with Giant Corinthian half columns. The stairs lead to the Board of Supervisors chamber, and opposite it is the office of the Mayor.

 

President Warren G. Harding lay in state at City Hall after dying of a heart attack at the Palace Hotel in 1923. Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe were married at City Hall in 1954. Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated there in 1978, by former Supervisor Dan White. The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 damaged the structure, and twisted the dome four inches (102 mm) on its base. Afterwards work was undertaken to render City Hall earthquake resistant through a base isolation system.

 

1,973 views
0 faves
0 comments
Uploaded on March 2, 2012
Taken on February 23, 2012