Clift Hotel
495 Geary Street
Opened 1915

The Clift Hotel, a three-part vertical block with Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation, was designed by George Applegarth and Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. The steel frame is sheathed in a light-colored brick curtain wall.

The hotel opened on 1 February 1915 to accommodate the crowds attending the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. It was advertised as the first hotel in San Francisco to be fire and earthquake proof.

In 1924, the addition of three floors made the Clift Hotel the largest hotel in the California.

In 1935, the Redwood Room, designed by G. Albert Lansburgh and Anthony Heinsfergen in the Art Deco style, was added. According to legend, the room is paneled with wood from a single redwood tree. The enormous bar was made from an 800-year-old redwood tree. Original paintings by Gustav Klimt hang on the walls.