450 Sutter Street Explained

450 Sutter
Alternate Names:450 Sutter Medical Building
Medical-Dental Office Building
Location:450 Sutter Street
San Francisco, California
Architectural Style:Art Deco/ Art Moderne
Coordinates:37.7895°N -122.4077°W
Pushpin Map:United States San Francisco Central#California#USA
Completion Date:October 15, 1929
Building Type:Commercial offices
Roof:105m (344feet)
Floor Count:26
Architect:Miller and Pflueger
Nrhp:
Four Fifty Sutter Building
Embed:yes
Nrhp Type:nrhp
Built:1929
Architecture:Art deco
Added:December 22, 2009
Refnum:09001118
References:[1]

450 Sutter Street, also called the Four Fifty Sutter Building, is a twenty-six-floor, 105-meter (344-foot) skyscraper in San Francisco, California, completed in 1929. The tower is known for its "Neo-Mayan" Art Deco design by architect Timothy L. Pflueger.[2] The building's vertically faceted exterior later influenced Pietro Belluschi in his similarly faceted exterior of 555 California, the former Bank of America Center completed in 1969.[3]

The building's tenants are largely dental and medical professional offices.

History

In the 1960s, endocrinologist and sexologist Harry Benjamin, known for his pioneering clinical work with transgender people, opened a summer practice in the building, with many of his patients coming from the nearby Tenderloin neighbourhood.[4] [5]

In popular culture

In the director's commentary of influential 3D adventure game Grim Fandango, game designer Tim Schafer credits the building as a major aesthetic influence. Schafer said he became familiar with 450 Sutter because his dentist's office was located on one of the upper floors, and that he had modeled the Department of Death, one of the game's most important locations, on the building.[6] [7]

The building is also modeled in the 2003 Maxis video game SimCity 4 as the fictional "Vu Financial" commercial office tower.[8]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Emporis building ID 118820 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151016225427/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/118820 . dead . October 16, 2015 . Emporis.
  2. Book: Starr, Kevin . Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California . 1996 . Oxford University Press . 0-19-510080-8 . registration . 25 September 2012.
  3. Web site: 20th Century Architecture: Former Bank of America World Headquarters . Vernacular Language North . 2012 . 25 September 2012.
  4. Web site: Kane. Peter Lawrence. 2015-07-22. The Tenderloin Museum Has Ceiling Lights in the Shape of the Tenderloin. live. 2021-07-05. SF Weekly. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184611/https://www.sfweekly.com/culture/the-tenderloin-museum-has-ceiling-lights-in-the-shape-of-the-tenderloin/ . 2021-07-09 .
  5. Web site: Conway. Lynn. Lynn Conway. Lynn Conway's Career Retrospective, Part II. live. 2021-07-05. ai.eecs.umich.edu. https://web.archive.org/web/20010414151114/http://ai.eecs.umich.edu:80/people/conway/Retrospective2.html . 2001-04-14 .
  6. Web site: Exhuming Grim Fandango's Mexican folklore inspirations. January 23, 2015. Kill Screen - Previously.
  7. Web site: 450 Sutter. Double Fine Productions.
  8. https://simcity4buildings.net/index.php?lang=eng&page=gewerbe&stage=8&id=362#362 "Vu Financial"