OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Google Streetview (new tab)

Overview

This 13-story bullding showcased the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's structural steel-framing products. For much of the twentieth century, Bethlehem Steel was one of the leading producers of wide-flange structural steel members (such as steel I-beams) and other components used in American skyscrapers. Welton D. Becket, (1902-1969) the Seattle-born architect who created one of America's largest architectural firms with a home base in Los Angeles, designed the tower.

Building Notes

The Los Angeles architectural firm of Welton D. Becket and Associates collaborated with several San Francisco engineering firms. including Hayes and Little, John A. Blume and Associates, and Dudley Deane and Associates, to design this unusual office building for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Pacific Coast Division Headquarters. A photograph in the collection of the San Francisco Public Library (item #AAC-6477) had the caption: "Steelwork for the new Bethlehem Pacific Coast steel Corporation's general offices rises 15-stories above California and Davis Streets in San Francisco. The unusual design, a result of latest seismic studies, utilizes exterior free-standing columns which are located outside of the building perimeter walls. The steelwork for the structure will be formally concluded Tuesday, February 17, when the final piece is raised and brought into position at traditional 'topping out' ceremonies. Directors of the corporation will be on hand to witness the event at noon." (See San Francisco Public Library.org, "[Construction of Bethlehem Steel's new office headquarters located on 100 California Street] [graphic]," accessed 10/08/2018.)

Building Notes

The building had the following alternative addresses: 116 California Street and 201 Sacramento Street.

This office tower covered at 37,892.25-square-foot lot. It had a 20,024-square-foot basment and above-ground square footage of 266,237 in 2018. The building and its land last sold for $182,250,000.00 on 09/05/2014. In 2018, the tower and its land had an assessed value of $192,504,494.

A notice of the building's construction was published in the Weekly Commercial News, vol. 116, 1958, page unknown.

The Bethlehem Steel Building won an Architectural Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Steel Construction, (See "Top Award Winner," Weekly Commercial News, vol. 119, 1961, p. 3.)