Central Tower

Identification

Map

Structure in general

Usage

Facts

• Claus Spreckels, the sugar magnate, was the building's namesake. But it was renamed the Call Building when it became home to San Francisco's newspaper, the Morning Call.
• Built of steel and Oregon sandstone the original building was 12 stories and 315 feet and the tallest building west of the Mississippi River for many years.
• The upper floors were set ablaze during the great quake and it burned from the top down; the base at one end moved two feet out into the sidewalk and the elevators refused to work. The shell was used during its reconstruction.
• Radically altered (remodeled) in 1938 by Albert Roller.
• Originally topped by an ornate baroque dome and four corner cupolas, all removed in the 1938 renovation.