Rincon Center
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Rincon Annex
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Rincon Center in May 2006
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| Location | 101--199 Mission St., San Francisco, California |
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| Coordinates | 37°47′33″N 122°23′31″W / 37.79250°N 122.39194°WCoordinates: 37°47′33″N 122°23′31″W / 37.79250°N 122.39194°W |
| Area | 1.9 acres (0.77 ha) |
| Built | 1940 |
| Built by | George A. Fuller Construction Co. |
| Architect | Gilbert Stanley Underwood |
| Architectural style | Streamline Moderne |
| NRHP Reference # | 79000537 |
| SFDL # | 107 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 16, 1979 |
| Designated SFDL | 1980 |
Rincon Center is a major and public complex of shops, restaurants, offices, and apartments in South of Market in Downtown San Francisco, California. It comprises an entire city block, bounded by Mission, Howard, Spear, and Steuart Streets. There are two buildings.
The original Rincon Annex building is a former United States Post Office, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in the Streamline Moderne style, and completed in 1940. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The exterior of the building is decorated by dolphins in stone relief friezes above the doorways and windows.
The interior features the renowned "History of California" mural, composed of 27 watercolor murals painted by the Russian immigrant muralist Anton Refregier, from 1941 to 1948 under the Federal Art Project of the Work Projects Administration. The murals, in the Social realism style, depict the history of California and San Francisco's role in it. As the murals were completed immediately following World War II, they generated fierce controversies. Refregier's detractors criticized his artistic style and questioned his political leanings. The controversy eventually reached the U.S. Congress, where critics called for the murals to be destroyed. Ironically, it was the murals that led to the preservation of the post office lobby as part of the Rincon Center development.
In the 1980s the building was made available by the United States Postal Service for development acquisition. The property was eventually developed by a partnership headed by Perini Land & Development Company. The design of the late 1980s mixed-use Rincon Center was led by Scott Johnson of Pereira Associates, the firm founded by William Pereira, designer of the Transamerica Pyramid, the tallest building in San Francisco.
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