One block inland from Cupid’s Span, the lobby of the former Rincon Annex post office at 101 Spear Street holds the History of San Francisco: 27 murals painted by Russian-born artist Anton Refregier between 1941 and 1948, the largest commission of the federal arts programs that came out of the New Deal.
Refregier painted the city’s history without softening it: the Gold Rush’s violence, anti-Chinese riots, the 1934 waterfront strike. The panels were so contested that work was halted during the war, and in 1953 a congressional committee held hearings on removing them entirely as un-American. They survived, and the building around them became a city landmark.
The lobby is open to the public during business hours, free. The Art Deco building and its interior rain column in the atrium behind are part of the stop.
