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Rincon Annex
IMG 2185 Rincon Center San Francisco.JPG
Rincon Center in May 2006
Rincon Center is located in San Francisco County
Rincon Center
Location in San Francisco County
Rincon Center is located in California
Rincon Center
Location in California
Rincon Center is located in the United States
Rincon Center
Location in the United States
Location 101--199 Mission St., San Francisco, California
Area 1.9 acres (0.77 ha)
Built 1940
Built by George A. Fuller Construction Co.
Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Architectural style Streamline Moderne
NRHP reference No. 79000537
Quick facts for kids
Significant dates
Added to NRHP November 16, 1979

Rincon Center is a complex of shops, restaurants, offices, and apartments in South of Market in Downtown San Francisco, California. It includes two buildings, one of which is the 1940 Rincon Annex former post office building, and comprises a city block near the Embarcadero, bounded by Mission, Howard, Spear, and Steuart Streets.

Rincon Annex

The original Rincon Annex building is a former post office, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in the Streamline Moderne style and completed in 1940. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The exterior is decorated with stone relief friezes of dolphins above the doorways and windows.

Murals

Main page: History of San Francisco (Refregier murals)

The interior features the History of San Francisco mural series, comprising 27 tempera-on-gesso murals painted by the Russian immigrant artist Anton Refregier from 1941 to 1948 under the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the United States Department of the Treasury. The murals, in the social realism style, depict the history of California and San Francisco's role in it. As they were completed immediately following World War II, they generated fierce controversies. Refregier's detractors criticized his artistic style and questioned his political leanings. The controversy eventually reached the U.S. Congress, where critics called for the murals to be destroyed. The murals led to the preservation of the post office lobby as part of the Rincon Center development.

1980s expansion

In the 1980s the building was made available by the United States Postal Service for development acquisition, and was developed into a mixed-use center by a partnership headed by Perini Land & Development Company. The lead designer was Scott Johnson of Pereira Associates, the firm founded by William Pereira, designer of the Transamerica Pyramid. The complex was completed in 1988.

Rincon Center (aerial, 2018)
Aerial view of Rincon Center (2010)

The Rincon Annex building was topped with two new stories of offices and opened up to create a five-story atrium topped by a 200-foot (61 m) long skylight with a food court on the lower level. A new 23-story mixed-use building on the south side of the block contains a new post office, offices, and 320 apartments in twin towers rising from the commercial levels.

The Rain Cloud installation art work in the atrium was designed by the contemporary artist Doug Hollis and consisted of a continuous 85-foot (26 m) column of water drops falling from an eight-foot by eight-foot acrylic glass box at ceiling level perforated with 4,000 holes. It was removed in an early 2020s renovation that also removed an Art Deco-inspired frieze by Richard Haas on recent California history from the atrium and installed vegetated panels.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco City Guides led walking tours of the Rincon Annex murals.

  • Rincon Annex (San Francisco)

    Exterior of Rincon Annex, 2008

  • Rincon Center interior Marker -9447

    1939 post office dedication plaque

  • Rincon Center interior Parcel Post-9448

    Former parcel post window

  • Rincon Center interior Marker Post Office-9452

    1961 Post Office war memorial plaque

  • IMG 2184 Rincon Center San Franciso Interior Hallway

    Main hall of Rincon Annex, with History of San Francisco murals by Anton Refregier

  • IMG 2181 sir francis drake by Anton Refregier Rincon Center San Francisco

    Refregier mural, Panel #3, "Sir Francis Drake"

  • Rincon Center interior Mural-9450

    Refregier mural, Panel #16, "Building the Railroad"

  • Rincon Center interior Mural 3-9451

    Refregier mural, Panel #20, "San Francisco as a Cultural Center"

  • Rincon Center interior Mural-9446

    Refregier mural, Panel #27, "War and Peace"

  • Rincon Center Historic Marker-9442

    Rincon Annex historic marker

  • Rincon Center Entrance-9438

    Rincon Center entrance

  • Rincon Center Sign-9435

    Detail of sign

Images for kids

  • Rincon Center (aerial, 2010)

    Aerial view of Rincon Center (2010)

  • Rincon Center, San Francisco (2013) - 15

    Eagle statue flanking main entrance

  • Rincon Center, San Francisco (2013) - 14

    Main entrance details

  • Rincon Center, San Francisco (2013) - 02

    Entrance to elevator lobby

  • Rincon Center San Francisco Interior Hallway

    Main lobby of Rincon Annex (parallel to Mission)

  • Rincon Center, San Francisco (2013) - 07

    Junction of main and side lobbies of Rincon Annex

  • Rincon Center, San Francisco (2013) - 05

    Side lobby of Rincon Annex (parallel to Spear)

  • Rincon Center, San Francisco (2013) - 10

    Refregier mural, Panel #10, "Raising the Bear Flag"

  • Inside Rincon Center

    Interior of atrium, view northwest towards Mission Street

  • Rincon Center

    Atrium skylight detail

  • Two Rincon Center Looking Up

    Exterior courtyard of 1988 commercial building and residence towers, view southeast towards Howard Street

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