One joy of spending much of my life living
near or working in
San Francisco is the opportunity to enjoy playing tourist anytime, either with out of town guests or between business appointments. The Victorian homes offer explosive canvases of color, the cable cars are ancient and rickety but never get old, and neighborhoods like
Jackson Square always offer architectural surprises.
But the real treats are not the tall skyscrapers and daunting neoclassical architecture, but the little details and intricate patterns that reflect a time when
minimalism was a word few people knew and was not a way of design or life. The friezes, doors, screens, and ceilings pull me into the buildings instead of looking up at them.
During the
Green Biz Forum two weeks ago, my professional mission was focused on the convergence between innovation and sustainability. But my obsessions were the elevator doors in the Merchants Exchange Building on California Street. The Julia Morgan Ballroom was the venue, but the stars were what opened in the building’s lobby. Those doors reminded me of the lattices I would often see in Asian temples or old homes in Eastern Europe. I doubt the doors will make their way into an Otis or Kone elevator anytime soon, but they take us back to a time when wealth spawned fantastic buildings and design.
View more of our
in one picture series.
elevator doors, Merchants Exchange Building
