CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT IN SAN FRANCISCO
Born out of the dark, dingy, and dirty city expansion of the mid-to-late 1800s, the City Beautiful movement arrived in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century – like in other major US cities. But in San Francisco, most of the plan never came to light.
The movement was an architectural manifestation of the social response to failing urban life. It was a response to what had been learned – that if not planned and designed for public health and benefit, cities and urban centers would descend into filth, along with unwitting inhabitants.
Daniel Hudson Burnham is widely credited as being the “Father of City Beautiful.” Although he worked with others (including Frederick Law Olmsted, widely credited as the “Father of Landscape Architecture”), Burnham launched the City Beautiful movement at the 1893 World's Fair. The exhibition was an architectural exercise in light, order, and procession. It involved people into public spaces, it emphasized public buildings and places, and it invited health.
The response was big and broad. The movement continued and grew, and in 1904 Burnham was asked to produce a San Francisco Plan. Burnham agreed, and although he is mainly credited with the effort, a substantial portion of the production fell to his two top associates: Edward H. Bennett, who by most accounts actually led the project; and Willis Polk assisted.
The movement was an architectural manifestation of the social response to failing urban life. It was a response to what had been learned – that if not planned and designed for public health and benefit, cities and urban centers would descend into filth, along with unwitting inhabitants.
Daniel Hudson Burnham is widely credited as being the “Father of City Beautiful.” Although he worked with others (including Frederick Law Olmsted, widely credited as the “Father of Landscape Architecture”), Burnham launched the City Beautiful movement at the 1893 World's Fair. The exhibition was an architectural exercise in light, order, and procession. It involved people into public spaces, it emphasized public buildings and places, and it invited health.
The response was big and broad. The movement continued and grew, and in 1904 Burnham was asked to produce a San Francisco Plan. Burnham agreed, and although he is mainly credited with the effort, a substantial portion of the production fell to his two top associates: Edward H. Bennett, who by most accounts actually led the project; and Willis Polk assisted.
The plan was completed in 1905, and reflected the virtue of the City Beautiful movement. It included the definitive City Beautiful statement of civic pride in creating a Civic Center that was intended to be perceived as a shared public asset. The Center, like the plan, was an illustration of clean, open order, and reflected respect for both nature (Baroque landscape influences) and man’s ability for expression and ascendance with its adaptation of Beaux-arts and neoclassical architecture.
The plan created neighborhoods and districts which would be accessed by grid pattern but also served by diagonal boulevards, tying transportation to scenic vistas. It prescribed careful treatment of hills, streets, and even provided for careful resource management:
CUTTING INTO HILLS
“Where this follows a well-defined plan of terracing and improvements, it might be permitted, but where it is done simply for immediate commercial gain, it constitutes an affront to public taste and an infringement of public rights which should be strictly prohibited…”
The plan created neighborhoods and districts which would be accessed by grid pattern but also served by diagonal boulevards, tying transportation to scenic vistas. It prescribed careful treatment of hills, streets, and even provided for careful resource management:
CUTTING INTO HILLS
“Where this follows a well-defined plan of terracing and improvements, it might be permitted, but where it is done simply for immediate commercial gain, it constitutes an affront to public taste and an infringement of public rights which should be strictly prohibited…”
The 1906 earthquake and fire denied the dream from realization. Much of his improvements and his savings were not achieved.
Still, the symbolic Civic Center complex, with its centerpiece of City Hall and the broad plaza and fountain in front of it, was built, and the first public manifestation of the City Beautiful movement in the Bay Area.
The dream remains in different ways. Later, nearing 1920, a private development called St. Francis Wood would be built at the eastern edge of San Francisco's Sunset District. This was the first time the City Beautiful concept was successfully applied to residential planning. That neighborhood still exists today, and reflects a great degree of its original form.
Still, the symbolic Civic Center complex, with its centerpiece of City Hall and the broad plaza and fountain in front of it, was built, and the first public manifestation of the City Beautiful movement in the Bay Area.
The dream remains in different ways. Later, nearing 1920, a private development called St. Francis Wood would be built at the eastern edge of San Francisco's Sunset District. This was the first time the City Beautiful concept was successfully applied to residential planning. That neighborhood still exists today, and reflects a great degree of its original form.