{"nrhp_refnum":"78000757","name":"San Francisco Civic Center Historic District","other_names":["San Francisco Civic Center National Historic Landmark"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Golden Gate Ave., 7th, Franklin, Hayes, and Market Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Francisco","county":"San Francisco","state":"CA","lat":37.778491064490325,"lon":-122.41705313754582,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-10-10","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1987-02-27","areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Art","Entertainment/Recreation","Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A district in San Francisco, California, made up of monumental government and cultural buildings arranged around Civic Center Plaza, with additional buildings extending the main axis east and west. It covers all or part of 12 city blocks and includes City Hall (1913-16), the War Memorial complex (1932) and the Exposition Auditorium (1915).","why_significant":"The text states that nine buildings contribute to the national importance of the district, including City Hall, the Exposition Auditorium, the Public Library, the State Building, the Federal Building, the Opera House, the Veterans Building, the Department of Public Health Building and the Civic Center Powerhouse. The Herbst Auditorium in the Veterans Building is noted as the site where the United Nations Charter was signed in 1945. The excerpt does not include the full statement of significance.","narrative":"San Francisco's Civic Center is a group of monumental public buildings gathered around Civic Center Plaza, with further buildings extending the main axis to the east and west. It covers all or part of 12 city blocks. City Hall, built in 1913-16, anchors the district with a dome rising more than 300 feet, higher than the U.S. Capitol, on a granite-clad steel frame. Facing it across Van Ness Avenue, the 1932 War Memorial complex pairs the Opera House and the Veterans Building on either side of a landscaped court. Other major buildings include the 1915 Exposition Auditorium, the 1916 Public Library and the Federal Building. Most are designed in Beaux Arts or Renaissance-inspired classical styles. Nine buildings are described as contributing to the district's national importance. The Herbst Auditorium in the Veterans Building is where the United Nations Charter was signed on June 26, 1945. The buildings continue to serve government, cultural, museum and convention uses.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Henri Crenier (pediment sculpture, City Hall); Edgar Walter (statuary, Opera House); G. Albert Lansburgh (1921 auditorium alteration); Arthur Brown Jr., architect of the Federal Building; John Galen Howard (1912 Civic Center view)","architectural_style":"Beaux Arts and Classical, with City Hall in late French Renaissance or Baroque style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is listed as excellent and altered, on its original site. Most buildings remain in use as government offices, performance venues, a museum and a convention hall.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.603038-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000757.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000757/962a3ed96a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000757/962a3ed96a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"J. Ash Bowie","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grahamauditorium.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">J. Ash Bowie</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grahamauditorium.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861280","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_Center,_San_Francisco","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q267874"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-francisco/san-francisco-civic-center-historic-district-78000757/"}