Hallidie Building

The Hallidie Building stands before you as a pioneer of modern architecture. When it opened in nineteen eighteen, it introduced the very first high-rise glass curtain wall in the United States. Architect Willis Polk designed this structure to hang a transparent skin of glass and steel in front of its concrete frame, effectively separating the building's exterior appearance from its internal support system. While this style defines the skylines of major cities today, its appearance here in San Francisco at the time was a radical departure from the heavy stone and masonry buildings that surrounded it.