Financial District
About Financial District
The Financial District is built on the buried edge of the bay. In the Gold Rush years this was Yerba Buena Cove, and Montgomery Street ran along the original waterfront. Ships that arrived in 1849 and 1850 were abandoned by crews who left for the gold fields, and the city filled the cove with sand and debris around them. The remains of dozens of those ships are still under the streets.
As the waterfront moved east onto the new land, the district became the banking center of the West Coast. A.P. Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in 1904. After the 1906 earthquake and fire, he made loans from a makeshift desk on the wharf to help people rebuild, and the bank later grew into Bank of America. The Bank of Italy building still stands at 552 Montgomery Street.
The district was rebuilt after 1906 and kept growing upward. The Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street was completed in 1972 and was the tallest building in the city until Salesforce Tower passed it in 2018. A half-acre redwood grove, Transamerica Redwood Park, sits at its base and is open to the public.
Where to Eat
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Where to Drink
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Things to Do
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Transamerica Redwood Park
A half-acre redwood grove at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid. It's free too.
Lotta’s Fountain
Cast-iron fountain at Market, Geary, and Kearny, dedicated September 9, 1875 as a gift to the city from actress Lotta Crabtree. Survived the 1906 earthquake and became the post-quake message board for finding missing family; the annual April 18, 5:12am commemoration has run since 1919. Free, on a downtown traffic island.
Heineman Building
A 10-story Edwardian on a lot barely 20 feet wide at 130 Bush, designed by George Applegarth in 1910 as a necktie and suspender factory. Glazed terra cotta, hammered copper panels, prismatic bow windows. Look up between Battery and Sansome.
