I want to know all about the Montgomery Block in San Francisco and all the things it used to have, how was it built, why was this building more important in here, how people used to speak and all that you can tell about it, stories, books, people, important writers and everything. I need this ASAPgreenspun.com : LUSENET : San Francisco History : One Thread |
I need info on this building for my site.
-- Sean M. Hall (chunkylover53@sfhe.cjb.net), April 12, 2003
Sean--You always need info ASAP.
"Just as San Francisco was emerging from the primitive era of canvas tents and tumbledown shacks in 1853, an elegant building went up on the land bounded by Washington, Montgomery, Merchant and Sansome streets. The four story brick edifice was named the Washington Block and then the Montgomery Block, but was affectionately known to most locals as the Monkey Block"
So Begins a fine 8 paragrpah article by Matthew Brady in the Sept 7 1999 issue of the Independent. The article concludes
"The Monkey Block was the only building in the downtown area to survive the 1906 earthquake and fire"
Rand Richards in his "Historic Walks in Sn Francisco devotes 9 paragraphs to the Montgomery Block. He begins:
"Where the northern half of the Transamerica Pyramid now stands was the site for over a century of perhaps the most renowned office building in San Francisco-- the Montgomery Block. When completed in 1853 it was four stories high and was the tallest and grandiest building west of the Mississippi River.":
He concludes:
The sturdy Montgomery Block which survived the 1906 earthquake with nary a scratch was torn down in 1959. The space was used for parking until the Transamrica Pyramid was built in 1972."
Good luck in your research
Kurt
-- Kurt Iversen (iversenk@aol.com), April 12, 2003.
There's an entire book on the Montgomery Block: "Ark of empire; San Francisco's Montgomery Block" by Idwal Jones ISBN: B00005VFM5 Check out bookfinder. com or any other good on-line bookstore to order a copy.BTW, do you ever do anything that isn't on an ASAP basis?
-- P.S. Perris (psperris@slip.net), April 12, 2003.
I don't answer questions about ASAP ASAP.
-- SFHE editor (chunkylover53@sfhe.tk), April 12, 2003.