One Bush Plaza

One Bush Plaza
One Bush Plaza
	In 2021
	Location within San Francisco County One Bush Plaza (California) One Bush Plaza (the United States)
Alternative names	Crown Zellerbach Building
General information
Type	Commercial offices
Location	1 Bush Street; San Francisco, California
Coordinates	37°47′28″N 122°24′00″W / 37.791°N 122.4°W
Completed	1959, 65 years ago
Owner	Tishman Speyer
Height
Roof	308 ft (94 m)
Technical details
Floor count	20
Floor area	439,000 sq ft (40,800 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Hertzka & Knowles
Structural engineer	H.J. Brunnier Associates
San Francisco Designated Landmark
Designated	1987
Reference no.	183
References

One Bush Plaza, also known as the Crown Zellerbach Building, is an office building in the western United States in San Francisco, California. Located on Bush Street and Battery Street at Market Street in the Financial District, the 20-story, 308-foot (94 m) building was completed in 1959.

History

The building was originally the headquarters of Crown Zellerbach, a Fortune 500 forest products conglomerate acquired by Sir James Goldsmith in a 1985 hostile takeover.^[5]^[6] The majority of the pulp and paper assets were sold to James River in 1986,^[7]^[8]^[9] which in turn became a part of Georgia-Pacific in 2000. (The brown paper container division became Gaylord Container).^[10] James River's headquarters were in Richmond, Virginia, and Gaylord's moved to suburban Chicago. The building was later the headquarters of the investment bank Hambrecht & Quist.

Constructed in the late 1950s, it was the first significant structure erected in downtown San Francisco in the thirty years following the start of the Great Depression. It was the first International Style building in San Francisco and one of the first such buildings in the U.S., being completed shortly after the Lever House and the Seagram Building, both in New York City. It was not, however, the first building in San Francisco to feature a glass curtain wall, that designation belonging to the Hallidie Building,^[11] two blocks to the west.

One Bush Plaza was controversial due to the decision for it to face Bush Street instead of Market Street, the latter being in decline at the time of the building's construction. The building is notable for taking up an entire city block and being freestanding. It directly faces an Art Deco skyscraper, the Shell Building.

The architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed One Bush Plaza.

Tower base

Awards

1959 Administrative Management Magazine – Office of the Year Award: Award of Merit
1960 American Institute of Steel Construction – Award of Excellence
1961 American Institute of Architects – Award of Merit
1997 American Institute of Architects - California Council 25 Year Award^{[citation needed]}

References

^ "City of San Francisco Designated Landmarks". City of San Francisco. Archived from the original on 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
^ "Emporis building ID 118712". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
^ "One Bush Plaza". SkyscraperPage.
^ One Bush Plaza at Structurae
^ "Financier obtains control of Crown Zellerbach". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. July 26, 1985. p. 1B.
^ "Goldsmith wins in C-Z takeover". Bend Bulletin. (Oregon). UPI. July 26, 1985. p. A13.
^ "James River plans to take over mill". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 17, 1985. p. 6B.
^ "Crown Z makes stock swap". Ellensburg Daily Record. (Washington). UPI. December 17, 1985. p. 13.
^ "James River to buy most of Zellerbach". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). December 17, 1985. p. B5.
^ "Hayford, Pomerantz to buy 2d paper products company". Chicago Tribune. September 20, 1986. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
^ "Hallidie Building". Great Buildings Collection. Architecture Week. Retrieved 2010-12-01.