The 107-year-old building which housed the San Francisco Gas Light Company, a precursor to PG&E, has undergone a complete restoration and Renovation into office space. The historic San Francisco landmark is located on Buchanan Street near the Marina District. It was designated San Francisco Historic Landmark #58 in 1974 and is believed to have been designed by Clinton Day in 1893.

At one time, expansive 40-foot high ceilings in the rear of the building accommodated gas metering equipment. During the restoration, contractor Plath & Company renovated existing administrative offices and created a second floor in the back of the Queen Anne-style structure for new office space.

The fast-track project to restore and modernize the building in eight months included meticulously stripping and refinishing redwood wainscoting, balustrade and trim, and reinforcing the masonry exterior walls. Tom Hall, Plath Project Manager said, "All work on the exterior is reviewed by the Landmark Preservation Advisory Board. It was a challenge to keep the historic brick façade of the building intact during the structural bolting. Another challenge was the restoration of 33 windows that are over 100 years old."

Steel columns needed to be attached to the brick walls to structurally reinforce the building. Workers drilled thousands of holes in the brick's interior face to within one inch of the exterior brick face. The steel columns rise from the ground to the roof, and have steel brackets that connect the brick walls to each column. Each floor in the 14-room structure also connects to the walls by a "bolts-plus" system.

Plath craftsmen stripped and refinished most of the original redwood trim, including the 6-panel doors in the Gas Light Company's original administrative offices. During test stripping, the wainscot panels were found to be "curly redwood." This wood is only found in the lower sections of old growth redwood where the tremendous weight of the thousand-year-old trees compress the grain, creating a wavy pattern.

Plath removed rotting wood from the windows and treated the decayed boards with epoxy, following preservation guidelines to save as much of the original wood as possible.
The Renovation included updated electrical, heat and water systems. ADA-compliant kitchens and bathrooms and a new 800 amp electrical system, supplying power to a new elevator and HVAC, are among the changes.

An antique store inhabited the 14-room structure in the 1960s, followed by a realty office. Tusker Corporation, a management company, bought the building in 1999, and maintains a corporate office there.

Architect’s Perspective

Although the building is set in the midst of new development, it stands out with its eye-catching elegance. The brick that forms the tower is very elaborate and consists of beautifully-designed sophisticated elements that you don't see even on other buildings from that period. The exterior didn't change at all, and inside the changes and new details are complementary to the existing building.

Patrick McGrew
McGrew/Architects