Southern Pacific Building

History

The building served as the headquarters for the Southern Pacific Railroad after it relocated from the Flood Building in 1917, ten years after SP had moved into the Flood Building. At its completion, the building's first floor was devoted to retail except for the portion facing the rear courtyard (opening to Mission Street), which was reserved for Southern Pacific.

It was later incorporated into the 1976 One Market Plaza development which includes Spear Tower and Steuart Tower. However, Union Pacific Railroad was still the owner of One Market Street until the building was sold for to The Martin Group (TMG) in 1998. TMG invested another $50 million to renovate the property, Equity Office Properties Trust sold One Market Street to The Blackstone Group in February 2007, and Blackstone, in turn, sold One Market to Morgan Stanley in June 2007 as part of a large real estate acquisition. Morgan Stanley sold approximately half of One Market Plaza to The Paramount Group in July 2007. One Market Plaza was owned jointly by Morgan Stanley (49% share) and The Paramount Group (51% share) until Morgan Stanley sold its share to Blackstone Real Estate Partners in 2014 for .

Design

When completed, One Market Street was hailed as the tallest steel-framed structure west of the Mississippi. The building is planned in the form of the capital letter "E", with the longest side, 275 ft long, along Market Street. The wings on Spear and Steuart Streets are each 210 ft long, and the central arm is occupied by elevators. It is designed in the Italian Renaissance style with details executed in Roman brick and terra cotta. The lobby was fitted with Colorado yule marble walls and an ornamental plaster ceiling.

During the 1998–99 refurbishment, two of the eight original passenger elevators were eliminated and custom-sized modern elevator cabs were installed in the other six shafts, running on the original guide rails. The elevators had received a major redesign in 1956, when elevator operators were eliminated by automatic operation.

Gallery

File:A&E vol LI no 2 pg 60-2.jpg|Soon after completion in 1917 File:Southern Pacific Building, San Francisco 2023-07-18.jpg|In 2023, seen from the end of Market Street File:The Embarcadero (1956) (5302805044).jpg|The "S·P" sign from The Embarcadero (1956) File:A&E vol LI no 2 pg 61-1.jpg|Rear courtyard opening on Mission (1917) File:A&E vol LI no 2 pg 66-2.png|Cross-section drawing (parallel to Spear/Steuart)

Former Tenants

• Southern Pacific
• Del Monte Foods
• Salesforce.com

Current Tenants

• Autodesk
• Google

References

References

1. . (May 20, 1916). ["S.P. Will Build S.F. Skyscraper"](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19160520.2.677). *Los Angeles Herald*.
2. . (July 21, 1917). ["Southern Pacific Building Nears Completion"](https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MVR19170721.2.28). *Mill Valley Record*.
3. Hofsommer, Don L.. (1986). "The Southern Pacific, 1981–1985". Texas A & M University Press.
4. (May 30, 2014). "Readers weigh in: S.F.'s lost architectural landmarks".
5. (April 3, 1995). "An investment in eye candy". San Francisco Examiner.
6. . (February 15, 1998). ["One Market bagged for $50 million"](http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/1998/02/16/story3.html). *San Francisco Business Times*.
7. . (April 15, 1998). ["The Martin Group is Bullish on San Francisco: The Martin Group Acquires Waterfront Historic One Market Street Building"](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-martin-group-is-bullish-on-san-francisco-77435227.html). *PRNewswire*.
8. . (2014). ["The Landmark at One Market Street"](http://www.tippingstructural.com/projects/project_details/6).
9. (February 26, 2007). "Morgan Stanley Grabs Equity's San Francisco Assets". CoStar News.
10. Hollis, Robert. (June 19, 2007). "A partial payment of taxes / Blackstone Group spent billions for S.F. buildings but disputes city's levy". San Francisco Chronicle.
11. (July 3, 2007). "Paramount Group buys half interest in One Market Plaza". San Francisco Business Times.
12. . (July 3, 2014). ["Blackstone Pays $600MM to Buy One Market Plaza in San Francisco"](http://news.theregistrysf.com/blackstone-pays-600mm-buy-one-market-plaza-san-francisco/). *The Registry SF*.
13. (June 1, 2001). "Floor, please?".
14. (November 1917). "The Southern Pacific General Office Building". The Architect & Engineer of California.
15. [http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/04/26/story6.html Salesforce grabs more office space in S.F. ]
16. [https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Google-signs-massive-SF-office-lease-at-former-13378857.php Google signs massive SF office lease at former Salesforce headquarters]
17. "Southern Pacific Building".
18. "One Market Plaza".