Private Tour of Art Deco in Financial District

FWSF members and their guests enjoyed a private tour of many of the Art Deco jewels in the Financial District. Led by a docent from the Art Deco Society of California, the tour included the 450 Sutter Medical Building, notable for the Mayan-inspired decoration in the dramatic lobby, the newly renovated Pacific Telephone and Telegraph building at 140 Montgomery, the tallest high-rise when built in 1924, the Shell Building featuring Egyptian motifs (King Tuts mob was discovered in 1923), and the San Francisco Stock Exchange with it's sculptures by Ralph Stockpole and two-story mural by Diego Rivera.

Art Deco is the popular name for the design movement that flourished from the 1920's to early 1940's. The style encompasses architecture, fashion, industrial design, fine and decorative art and designers adapted new building materials to suggest speed, power and opulence. For more information, contact the Art Deco Society of California at artdecosociety.org.