Albert Pissis (1852-1914)
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Bank of Eureka Building in Eureka, California
Built 1911 - Photographed 7 July 2007
(Click Photo to Zoom)
Albert Pissis, who was the first San Francisco architect to study at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, is credited with introducing the Beaux Arts style to San Francisco.
Pissis was born in Guaymas, Mexico, to a French father and Mexican mother. The family moved to San Francisco when Pissis was six.
In 1882, after his studies in Paris, Pissis and his partner, William P. Moore, designed a number of buildings in the popular Queen Anne, and Eastlake and Classical Revival styles.
He was important in the rebuilding of San Francisco after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.
| Name | Year | Address | City | Sort Address | Sort Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Sansome | 1910 | 1 Sansome Street | San Francisco | Sansome 0001 | One Sansome |
| Bank of Eureka | 1911 | 240 E Street | Eureka | E 240 | Bank of Eureka |
| Borel Building | 1908 | 440 Montgomery | San Francisco | Montgomery 0440 | Borel Building |
| California Casket Co. | 1909 | 965 Mission | San Francisco | Mission 0965 | California Casket Co. |
| Charleston Building | 1908 | 251-255 Kearny | San Francisco | Kearny 0251 | Charleston Building |
| Emporium | 1896 | 835-865 Market | San Francisco | Market 0835 | Emporium |
| Flood Building | 1904 | 870-898 Market | San Francisco | Market 0870 | Flood Building |
| Health Sciences Library | 1912 | 2395 Sacramento | San Francisco | Sacramento 2395 | Health Sciences Library |
| Hibernia Bank | 1892 | 1 Jones | San Francisco | Jones 0001 | Hibernia Bank |
| Mechanics Institute | 1909 | 57-65 Post | San Francisco | Post 0057 | Mechanics Institute |
| Misses Butler Building | 1909 | 120 Ellis | San Francisco | Ellis 0120 | Misses Butler Building |
| Rochat Cordes Building | 1909 | 126-130 Post | San Francisco | Post 0126 | Rochat Cordes Building |
| Rosenstock Building | 1908 | 28-36 Geary | San Francisco | Geary 0028 | Rosenstock Building |
| Roullier Building | 1907 | 49 Kearny | San Francisco | Kearny 0049 | Roullier Building |
| Savoy Hotel | 1913 | 580 Geary | San Francisco | Geary 0580 | Savoy Hotel |
| Temple Sherith Israel | 1904 | 2266 California | San Francisco | California 2266 | Temple Sherith Israel |
| University House | 1911 | University House Way | Berkeley | UC Berkeley | University House |
| Vale House | 1885 | 2226 California | San Francisco | California 2261 | Vale House |
| White House Department Store | 1908 | 255 Sutter | San Francisco | Sutter 0255 | White House Department Store |
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49 Kearny Street
Built 1908
Photographed 28 November 2019
The Roullier Building is the skinny, reinforced concrete building on the right. According to Splendid Survivors, a book published in 1979, it is one of three downtown highrise buildings that is only twenty feet wide. One of the skinny highrises is the Heineman Building on Bush Street. I don't know what the other one is.
The building on the left, with more conventional proportions, is the Oscar Luning Building designed by Nathaniel Blaisdell and built in 1907.
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126-130 Post Street
Built 1909
Photographed 28 November 2019
Michael R. Corbett writes in Splendid Survivors:
"One of the very best and certainly most distinctive example of urban architecture in downtown San Francisco....The facade curves and the design is carried a short way down a dark, narrow alley....There is a certain mystery about the way the facade turns down that alley as if it were going somewhere, or as if it were a much older building in a newer city which has obscured the structure's full glory."
Pissis had a knack for designing corner buildings. The Hibernia Bank. The White House Department Store. The Flood Building. The Health Sciences Library.