{"nrhp_refnum":"98001195","name":"Hotel Californian","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"403 Taylor St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Francisco","county":"San Francisco","state":"CA","lat":37.78583680400004,"lon":-122.41144757099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-09-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A sixteen-story apartment-hotel at 403 Taylor Street in San Francisco, built in 1923 for Matthew A. Little and designed by Edward E. Young, with a four-story addition completed in 1929 by Alfred Henry Jacobs.","why_significant":"The hotel is significant locally under Criterion A in the area of social history for its association with the temperance movement. In 1935 Lizzie Glide's Glide Foundation bought it to run as San Francisco's only temperance hotel, a role it kept until 1978.","narrative":"Hotel Californian is a sixteen-story hotel at the corner of Taylor and O'Farrell streets in San Francisco, two blocks from Union Square. Edward E. Young designed the original twelve-story building, which opened in 1924 for owner and builder Matthew A. Little as an upscale apartment-hotel. Alfred Henry Jacobs added four floors in 1929, giving the exterior Art Deco ornamentation, while the lobby kept its Spanish Colonial Revival coffered ceilings, twisted columns and ironwork. The steel-frame, brick-clad building has 250 guest rooms, each with a private bath and outside light. Its listing rests on social history. In 1935 Lizzie Glide, a Methodist philanthropist, had the Glide Foundation buy the hotel, and it operated as San Francisco's only temperance hotel until 1978. Ground-floor shops were remodeled many times, notably in 1942, but the upper floors remain largely as built. The hotel still operates with a restaurant and shops.","period_of_significance":"1935-1948","architect_builder":"Young, Edward E.; Jacobs, Alfred Henry; Matthew A. Little (owner/builder)","architectural_style":"Late 19th & Early 20th Century Revivals: Spanish Colonial Revival/Art Deco","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still operating as a hotel with restaurant and commercial space; ground floor storefronts heavily altered while upper floors are largely intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:26.899915-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/98001195.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001195/f4b633f794-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001195/f4b633f794-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"User:jdlrobson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hotel_Californian_(taken_on_27Aug2012_13hrs33mins41secs).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:jdlrobson</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:Hotel_Californian_(taken_on_27Aug2012_13hrs33mins41secs).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861159","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Californian_(San_Francisco,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65079205"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-francisco/hotel-californian-98001195/"}