Union Square
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Weidner 116 looks west at the pre-quake St. Francis Hotel
(caption typo "San Francis"), completed in 1904.
The image dates from early 1904.
St. Francis Hotel shows many additional views of the hotel.
- Goldsmith 21 and
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Britton & Rey 548 both look southeast across Union Square from Powell/Post.
Each shows the Mutual Savings Bank building (Market/Geary/Kearny, completed 1902, here just left of the tower of the Call Building)
but not the Whitell building (170 Geary, under construction in 1906 as seen below),
so these images must date from 1902-1905.
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Britton & Rey 549, postmarked 11/02/1905, looks northwest from Union Square.
The Hotel Savoy is on the northeast corner of Powell/Post,
with the Hopkins Institute and Stanford mansion above it atop Nob Hill.
The Fairmont Hotel was under construction in 1905;
its ghostly presence behind the Stanford mansion on this card is an artist's conception.
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Weidner 239 looks east across Union Square toward Stockton/Union Square Ave. (now Maiden Lane)
on earthquake day 4/18/1906, with the fire rapidly approaching.
The gathered crowd might include Enrico Caruso,
who was staying at the Palace Hotel when the earthquake struck.
The steel framework of the Whitell building under construction (at center)
is a useful point of reference in post-quake downtown photos.
- Rieder 43, postmarked Haywards 8/29/1906, shows post-fire City of Paris at the SE corner Geary/Stockton.
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A.H., postmarked 8/30/1906, is miscaptioned;
it looks east across Union Square toward Stockton/Post, so it does not show the rear of the St. Francis.
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Weidner 217, postmarked SF 3/12/1907, looks west across rubble-strewn Union Square after the earthquake and fire.
The St. Francis was also under construction, adding a third wing, when the earthquake struck.
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Weidner 245, postmarked SF 1/22/1909, looks east toward Stockton just north of Union Square Ave. (now Maiden Lane),
showing workers eating lunch at long tables.
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Scheff 90 looks southeast from Powell/Post to the temporary post-quake St. Francis Annex in the square.
The façade of the City of Paris building (southeast corner Stockton/Geary) shows smoke damage from the fire.
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Clements 1237 looks northwest across Union Square after the construction of the underground
Union Square Garage, built in 1941-1942.
Steve's SF postcard pages:
