The Palace Hotel features a grand glass dome that glows over the Garden Court. When William Ralston opened the hotel in eighteen seventy-five, he intended it to be the largest and most luxurious in the world. He filled it with internal…
Union Square Historic Hotels
This self-guided walk leads you through the opulent lobbies and historic corridors of Union Square's most legendary hotels, uncovering the stories of high society, iconic architecture, and Gilded Age grandeur that shaped San Francisco's civic heart.
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1. Palace Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, San Francisco
2. 140 Maiden Ln
The building at one hundred forty Maiden Lane features a curved, windowless brick facade that separates it entirely from the surrounding commercial storefronts. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed this structure in nineteen forty-eight…
3. Hotel Triton Union Square San Francisco
The Hotel Triton stands out with a narrow, cream-colored facade covered in intricate, deep-relief terracotta carvings of dragons and floral motifs. Built in nineteen thirteen, the hotel originally served as a residence for those drawn to…
4. Taj Campton Place, San Francisco
The heavy, cream-colored limestone facade of Taj Campton Place rises four stories above Stockton Street. It opened in nineteen oh nine, rebuilt from the rubble of the nineteen oh six earthquake. For years, the original Campton Place Hotel…
5. Beacon Grand Hotel
The Beacon Grand Hotel features a distinctive bronze marquee and an arched entryway that breaks up the grey stone facade of the former Sir Francis Drake Hotel. Built in nineteen twenty-eight, the building served as a grand destination for…
6. Chancellor Hotel on Union Square
The Chancellor Hotel stands out with its intricate terra cotta facade and the heavy, ornamental ironwork wrapping its lower windows. Built in nineteen fourteen, the hotel survived the modernization waves that leveled much of the…
7. The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square
The Westin St. Francis wears a pair of contrasting faces: the original nineteen oh four neoclassical masonry building and the sleek, jagged tower added in nineteen seventy-one. Its most famous interior feature is the Magneta grandfather…
8. The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel
The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel stands out on Geary Street for its pale terra cotta facade and the heavy, bronze-framed marquee at its entrance. Frederick Clift, a wealthy lawyer from Utah, commissioned the hotel to open just in time for the…