City Hall
Postcards on this page show San Francisco's old City Hall and Hall of Records
before and after the 1906 earthquake, as well as the post-quake City Hall.
City Hall gives more information about the history of the buildiings.
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Britton & Rey 476, postmarked SF 12/30/1904,
looks west with City Hall Avenue on the left and McAllister on the right.
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Britton & Rey 637 "Evening View" is the same image but with nighttime coloring
and electric lighting outlining the dome.
The Hall of Records.
These views look north from Market St. to Lick Monument and the City Hall dome.
- Weidner 122, postmarked 3/06/1906, about a month before the quake
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The long handwritten note on Weidner 123 describes the beautiful pre-quake illumination of the dome
(see Britton & Rey 637 above) and complains about the demolition of the earthquake-damaged City Hall.
- Weidner 123 is a later variant with divided back and added post-quake caption.
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Gruber, printed on unusually heavy stock,
has a Private Mailing Card back but its caption implies that it must be post-quake.
The b+w cards above were published very soon after the earthquake/fire.
Color cards showing earthquake damage became available only months later.
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Unknown publisher, postmarked Oakland 5/07/1906 (less than three weeks after the event):
"Destruction greater than newspapers describe."
- Rieder.
- American News.
- Weidner 202. The divided back implies that this card must date from 1907 or later.
The new City Hall.
Steve's SF postcard pages: