Jackson Square Historic District

Jackson Square is a compact district of roughly one hundred commercial buildings in downtown San Francisco, covering about fourteen acres near the former waterfront. Built mostly between the 1850s and about 1911, its brick masonry buildings are typically two or three stories, under 40 feet, with tall ground floors, deep-set windows, arches, heavy cornices and cast-iron details in Italianate and classical styles. Part of the area sits on fill that includes abandoned ships. These are the earliest surviving structures from the Gold Rush city, and they came through the fires of the 1850s and the earthquakes between 1868 and 1906 because of sound construction. Merchants, bankers, newspapers, consulates, wineries and chocolate makers once worked here, and figures such as William Tecumseh Sherman and Domingo Ghirardelli held businesses or property in the area. Narrow streets, alleys and a pedestrian scale give it a distinct identity beside the modern financial district, and it continues to serve as a working commercial area.