The
Transamerica Pyramid is the tallest and most
recognizable skyscraper in the San Francisco
skyline.
Although the building no longer houses the
headquarters of the
Transamerica Corporation, it is
still strongly associated with the company and is depicted in the
company's logo.
Designed by architect
William
Pereira, at a height of , it is currently tied for 106th
tallest building in the world.
History
Built on the location of the historic
Montgomery Block, it has a structural
height of and contains 48
floor of
retail and
office space.
Construction began in 1969 and finished in 1972. It is currently
ranked as being tied for 106
th tallest building in the
world. Transamerica moved their headquarters to the new building
from across the street, where they used to be based in another
flatiron-shaped building now occupied by the
Church of Scientology of San
Francisco.
Although it no longer houses the
headquarters of the
Transamerica Corporation, it is
still strongly associated with the company and is depicted in the
company's logo. The building is evocative of San Francisco and has
become one of the many symbols of the city. Designed by architect
William Pereira, it faced
considerable opposition during its planning and construction, and
was sometimes referred to by detractors in derogatory slang.
The
Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest skyscraper west of the
Mississippi from 1972–1974
(surpassing the nearby 555 California Street
), at which point it was surpassed by the Aon
Center
in Los Angeles
, which was designed by Pereira's former business
partner Charles
Luckman.
The building is considered to have been the intended target of a
foiled terrorist attack, involving the hijacking of airplanes as
part of
Oplan Bojinka, which was
foiled in 1995.
In 1999,
Transamerica was acquired by Dutch
insurance
company AEGON. When the non-insurance
operations of Transamerica were later sold to
GE Capital, AEGON retained the building as an
investment. 2007 Masters Golf Champion Zach Johnson wears an AEGON
hat that has a logo of the pyramid building.
Design
Its unique
shape is the result of the desire by Transamerica to have a
building whose top would be looked up to by the Bank of America executives on the highest
floor of the 555 California Street , which is not only tall but also sits upon a
substantially higher elevation. The land use and zoning
restrictions for the parcel limited the number of square feet of
office that could be built upon the lot, which sits at the northern
boundary of the financial district. This building was built under
the 'Building Codes' to be Earthquake safe.
The building is a tall, four-sided
pyramid
with two "wings" on opposite sides of the building. The wing to the
east of the building contains an
elevator
shaft, while the wing to the west contains a stairwell and a
smoke tower. The top of the building is the
spire. There are four
cameras
pointed in the four
cardinal
directions at the top of this spire forming a virtual
observation deck. Four monitors in the
lobby, whose direction and zoom can be
controlled by visitors, display the cameras' views 24 hours a day.
An observation deck on the 27th floor was closed after the
September 11, 2001 attacks, and
replaced by the virtual observation deck. The top of the
Transamerica Pyramid is covered with aluminum panels. During the
holiday season of
Thanksgiving, and
4 July, a bright,
white light is seen on top of the pyramid.
Specifications
- The building's façade is covered in crushed quartz, giving the building its pure white
color.
- The four-story base of the building contains a total of of
concrete and over of steel rebar .
- It has 3,678 windows.
- The building's foundation is thick and was the result of a
24-hour continuous concrete pour.
- Only two of the building's 18 elevators reach the top
floor.
- The original proposal called for a building, which would have
been for one year the second-tallest completed building in the
world. The
proposal was rejected by the city planning commission on the
grounds that it would have interfered with views of San Francisco
Bay
from Nob Hill
.
- The building occupies the site that was the temporary home of
A.P. Giannini's Bank
of Italy after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
destroyed its office. Giannini founded Transamerica in 1928 as a
holding company for his financial empire. Bank of Italy later
became Bank of America.
- There is a plaque commemorating two famous dogs, Bummer and Lazarus, at the base of the
building.
- The hull of the whaling
vessel Niantic, an artifact of the 1849 California Gold Rush, lay almost
exactly beneath the Transamerica Pyramid, and the location is
marked by a historical plaque outside the building (California Historical
Landmark #88).
- The aluminum cap is indirectly illuminated from within to
balance the appearance at night.
- The two vertical external extensions allow preservation of
useful interior space at the upper levels. One extension is the top
of elevator shafts while the other is a smoke evacuation tower for
fire-fighting.
- A glass pyramid cap sits at the top and encloses both aircraft
warning light and a seasonal white beacon.
- At
certain times of the year the glass cap will briefly cast a
reflected sunlight gleam onto traffic crossing the San Francisco – Oakland Bay
Bridge
Appearances in popular culture
From the ground to the sky.
- Invasion of the
Body Snatchers (movie, 1978) The building appears in a key
scene, appearing to separate two main characters (one of whom would
be revealed to be a villain a moment later).
- A View to a Kill
(movie, 1985) depicted James Bond barely
missing the antenna of the peak of the pyramid while being
suspended from a blimp.
- The Presidio (movie, 1988)
the building features prominently in both day and night
scenes.
- Zodiac (movie, 2007)
features a time-lapsed scene of the building's construction between
1971 and 1972. The effect was achieved with computer generated imagery
- Livin' on the Fault
Line (1977 album by The
Doobie Brothers). The building features on the cover but not in
downtown San Francisco, instead on the beach next to a rocky cliff.
It appears partially submerged in the ocean on the rear cover.
- Charmed. The building is
frequently featured in the WB series along with other popular San
Francisco landmarks as an intermission between scenes.
- Call of Duty 4
(videogame). The building exterior is recreated as part of the
decorative skyline in the map "Chinatown"
- Sliders (TV Series) Episode:
Season 1 - 'The Prince of
Wails'. In the opening scene, the Sliders (Quinn, Wade, Arturo
and Rembrandt) are on a parallel world where San Francisco is
completely flooded, and are trapped on the very top of the
Transamerica Pyramid (99% of the building is underwater) while
waiting to slide to the next world.
See also
References
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