{"nrhp_refnum":"99001265","name":"Otis Elevator Company Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 Beach St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Francisco","county":"San Francisco","state":"CA","lat":37.80791038500007,"lon":-122.409795455,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-10-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Commercial Style industrial building at 1 Beach Street, San Francisco, at the corner of Beach Street and Grant Avenue opposite Pier 39. Built in 1923-1924 to designs by Otis Elevator Company's architectural office in Yonkers, it served as the company's regional elevator assembly plant.","why_significant":"The building housed the regional assembly of elevators and manufacture of elevator controls during the late 1920s skyscraper boom in San Francisco. Elevators from this plant were installed in most of the city's outstanding new skyscrapers of the 1920s and 1930s. It is significant locally under Criterion A, in the areas of engineering and industry, within the context of skyscraper technology.","narrative":"Occupying its entire lot at the corner of Beach Street and Grant Avenue, this three-story building was constructed in 1923-1924 as the West Coast base of the Otis Elevator Company. Its exterior is light brown combed brick with terra cotta trim, arched windows two stories tall, and a cornice topped by a plain brick parapet. Originally two stories, it had a railroad spur entering on Grant Avenue so rail cars could be unloaded inside. Otis used the plant to assemble elevators and to make the selector mechanism of its Signal Control System. Elevators from the plant went into many of San Francisco's tall buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, including the Russ Building, the Mark Hopkins Hotel and the Shell Building. During the 1930s the facility shifted to service and maintenance. Otis left around 1969, and a middle floor was added in 1970 for offices. Although the interior has been altered, the exterior remains largely intact and recalls the area's industrial past.","period_of_significance":"1923-1939","architect_builder":"Otis Company's architectural office","architectural_style":"Commercial Style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Converted to offices in 1970 and reworked in 1998 with an industrial-style interior for multi-media companies; the exterior retains good integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.258012-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/99001265.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99001265/8f35d14d45-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99001265/8f35d14d45-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otis_Elevator_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:Otis_Elevator_Company_Building_(San_Francisco).JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"06000372","name":"Port of San Francisco Embarcadero Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/california/port-of-san-francisco-embarcadero-historic-district-06000372/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861232","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133504796"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-francisco/otis-elevator-company-building-99001265/"}