The Matson Building (1921)

Clad in glazed tan terra-cotta with green accents. Nautical images relate to the Matson Steamship Lines - seashells, fish, anchors, and, of course, steamships. Monumental columns at the base, with Ionic capitals outlined by ropes, and arched windows at the top highlight the composition.

245 Market Street
Bliss and Faville, Architects

Bank of California (1908)

The oldest commercial bank in the state is the grandest of the so-called downtown banking temples, boasting an imposing hall. Outside, a giant-order Corinthian colonnade supports a classical entablature. The pediment, however is displaced from its customary place atop the temple, and shrunken to serve as the main entrance, an accidental synecdoche for the small banking temple's current subservience to an addition (1967, Anshen & Alley). For the modernist tower, cast-concrete panels with decorative batten strips project between the dark horizontal window rows


400 California St
Bliss and Faville

Mason Building (1921)

Bliss and Faville
215 Market Street

Southern Pacific Building (1916)

An appropriately massive builing signifies the gargantuan appetite of the railroad, which during the nineteenth century was the greatest economic power in California. The conservative three-part vertical block displays classical ornament and a ground-level arched base



Southern Pacific Building (1916)
Bliss and Faville
1 Market Street