San Francisco › Places and landmarks
Transamerica Pyramid
The white pyramid of the Financial District, 260 metres tall, the sign of San Francisco’s skyline since 1972.
Photo: Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Transamerica Pyramid rises 48 floors from the corner of Montgomery Street and Columbus Avenue, narrowing all the way to a spire at 260 metres. The architect William Pereira gave it its shape so that more light would reach the streets below than a box of the same size would let through. Two wings stick out near the top, one for the lifts and one for the stairs.
It was finished in 1972, and for many people it was too modern at first. It was the tallest building in San Francisco until the Salesforce Tower passed it in 2018. On its east side lies Redwood Park, a little grove of redwoods moved here from the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The pyramid stands where the Montgomery Block stood from 1853, the largest office building in the West in its day, later a home for writers and artists, which was pulled down in 1959. Visit it in 3D ›
More in San Francisco
Ferry BuildingThe ferry terminal at the foot of Market Street, with its clock tower after the Giralda of Seville, now a food hall.
Coit TowerThe slim concrete tower on top of Telegraph Hill, built in 1933 with the money of Lillie Hitchcock Coit.
Dragon GateThe gate into Chinatown on Grant Avenue at Bush Street, with green tiled roofs, dragons and two stone lions.
ChinatownThe oldest Chinatown in North America, along Grant Avenue and Stockton Street, with lanterns over the street.
Union SquareThe square of the big shops and hotels, named after the rallies for the Union before the Civil War.
Cable carsThe last cable cars in the world still running in city streets, pulled up the hills by a cable under the road.
Washington SquareThe green heart of North Beach, the Italian quarter, before the white church of Saints Peter and Paul.
City LightsThe bookshop of the Beat poets on Columbus Avenue, which published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl in 1956.
Golden Gate BridgeThe orange suspension bridge across the mouth of the bay, about five kilometres west of the game’s map.
Lombard StreetThe block of Lombard Street on Russian Hill with eight hairpin bends between flower beds, west of the game’s map.
AlcatrazThe rocky island in the bay, a federal prison from 1934 to 1963, built so that no one could swim away.
Sourdough breadThe sour, chewy bread of San Francisco, baked since the Gold Rush from a living dough.