{"nrhp_refnum":"83001234","name":"Paige Motor Car Co. Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1699 Van Ness Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Francisco","county":"San Francisco","state":"CA","lat":37.790939696000066,"lon":-122.422650912,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story-and-mezzanine concrete automobile showroom at 1699 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, at the corner of Sacramento Street. Designed by Sylvain Schnaittacher, it was built in two phases, 1919 and 1922.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a nearly intact 60-year-old auto showroom and one of the half-dozen grandest buildings on Van Ness Avenue's \"Auto Row.\" It is also an important work by architect Sylvain Schnaittacher, and it has long been owned by the Bransten family, prominent in San Francisco business and charitable life. Its arched show windows are unusual among Van Ness showrooms.","narrative":"At the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and Sacramento Street in San Francisco, this concrete building of four stories and a mezzanine was built as an automobile showroom. Its first three bays went up in 1919 and two more bays were added in 1922, following a single design by architect Sylvain Schnaittacher. Both street facades have a five-bay arcade of segment arches enclosing large windows, with casement windows above and a consoled cornice at the top. The building housed dealers for Paige, Graham-Paige and later other brands, yet it changed very little over the decades. The only apparent exterior changes are a bulkhead cover and the loss of the roofline balustrade and entry lamps. It was considered notable as one of the grandest showrooms on Van Ness Avenue's \"Auto Row,\" as one of few with arched display openings, and as the work of a prominent architect who led the local and regional American Institute of Architects. The Bransten family owned it for more than sixty years.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific dates 1919, 1922)","architect_builder":"Sylvain Schnaittacher","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied and in good condition, with only minor exterior alterations (bulkhead cover, loss of the roofline balustrade and entry lamps). Adaptive reuse as offices was proposed, with the balustrade to be restored.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.617547-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/83001234.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001234/7e4a64c89b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001234/7e4a64c89b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paige_Motor_Car_Company_Building_(San_Francisco).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</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:Paige_Motor_Car_Company_Building_(San_Francisco).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861238","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paige_Motor_Car_Co._Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q56276015"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-francisco/paige-motor-car-co-building-83001234/"}