650 California Street

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name= 650 California Street


caption=
antenna_spire=
location= 650 California Street
San Francisco
status = Completed
use= OfficeCite web|title=Hartford Building|url=http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=1396|publisher=SkyscraperPage.com|accessdate=2007-09-10]
roof= Convert|142|m|ft|0|abbr=on
floor_count=34
groundbreaking=
opening= 1964
floor_area=
developer=
architect=Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
engineer=
contractor=

650 California Street, also known as the Hartford Building is a 34 story, 142 m, (466 feet) office tower on the northwestern edge of San Francisco's Financial District. The tower is located on California Street on the edge of Chinatown, and not far from 555 California Street. 650 California is visible from every direction except from the southeast, where the Financial District skyscrapers block the view.

Description

The building was designed by Edward Charles ("Chuck") Bassett of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for Hartford Insurance, its initial tenant.cite web | title="650 California Street" | publisher=Emporis | accessdate=2007-09-24 | url=http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=650californiastreet-sanfrancisco-ca-usa | ] It is architecturally significant, featuring a tall modernist lobby, high ceilings, and an exterior skeleton of floor-to-ceiling windows recessed into a square gridwork of precast white reinforced concrete. [cite book|url=http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/caohp/bassett.html|title=Edward Charles Bassett (1921-1999), oral history|publisher=Art Institute of Chicago | author=Betty J. Blum|refdate=2007-09-24|date=1989]

When this tower was completed in 1964, it was the second in San Francisco larger than 400,000 square feet or 37,000 square meters. It also became California's tallest building, replacing both the Russ Building in San Francisco and the Los Angeles City Hall in Los Angeles, California. Later skyscrapers in both San Francisco and Los Angeles took the title of California's tallest from this building.

Key tenants include Littler Mendelson (world headquarters), Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Credit Suisse, Jefferies & Co., Fairmont Hotel Management, Fliesler Meyer LLP, Jones Hall Law Corporation, and KBCW (former). A key scene from the documentary Live Nude Girls Unite (2000) was filmed in the lobby and a Littler conference room, where strippers met with attorneys for Littler, who was representing their employer, the Lusty Lady, in an effort to prevent the strippers from organizing a labor union. [cite web|url=http://www.nearbycafe.com/loveandlust/steinberg/erotic/cn/cn102.html|author=David Steinberg|title=Live Nude Girls Unite|accessdate=2007-09-24|publisher=Nearby Café ]

650 California was acquired for USD $160 million by the Pivotal Group in 2000,cite web|publisher=Pivotal Group| title=Pivotal LLC purchases 650 California Street | date=2000-10-13| accessdate=2009-09-24 | url=http://www.pivotalgroup.com/media-room/oct-13-2000.htm|] then sold to a Private Investor in 2005.cite web|publisher=Pivotal Group| title=650 California Street | date=| accessdate=2009-09-24 | url=http://www.pivotalgroup.com/commercial/650-california.htm|]

ee also

*List of tallest buildings in San Francisco

Photos

References

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before=PacBell Building
title=Tallest Building in San Francisco
years=1965—1967 142m
after=44 Montgomery Streetsuccession box
before=Los Angeles City Hall
title=Tallest Building in California
years=1965—1967 142m
after=44 Montgomery Street