Mechanics' Institute, San Francisco

The Mechanics' Institute features a facade of polished granite and a towering clock that marks the rhythm of the Financial District. Founded in eighteen fifty-four, this organization originally served as a technical school for laborers and inventors who needed access to a library and machine shops. During the eighteen seventies, the institute hosted industrial exhibitions that drew thousands to view new inventions. A fire destroyed its entire collection during the nineteen oh six earthquake, but members rescued the card catalog by burying it underground.