Bank of America Center (San Francisco)
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The Bank of America Center is a 52-story skyscraper at 555 California Street in San Francisco, California, the second tallest in the city and the focal point of the Financial District. Completed in 1969, it was the world headquarters of Bank of America prior to its merger with NationsBank, at which point the company moved its headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. It is currently owned by 555 California Street Partners and managed by the Shorenstein Company.
The Bank of America Center was meant to be a deliberate and unmistakable display of Bank of America's wealth, power, and importance. To that end, the center was handled by top architecture firms Wurster, Benardi and Emmons and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with famed architect Pietro Belluschi consulting. The structural engineering was performed by the renowned San Francisco firm H. J. Brunnier Associates. The skyscraper incorporates thousands of bay windows thanks to its unique design, meant to improve the rental value. At the north foot of the skyscraper is a large plaza that is often shaded during the day, leading to it being criticized as cold and windswept by many. Within the plaza is a large black sculpture by Masayuki Nagare that is locally known as the "Banker's Heart." Nearly the entire block—the skyscraper, the banking hall, the plaza, the stairways, and the sidewalks—is clad in costly polished or rough carnelian granite. An exclusive restaurant, the Carnelian Room, is located on the 52nd floor.
Together with the Transamerica Pyramid, the Bank of America Center is evidence of the direction San Francisco's downtown was moving during the 1960s before numerous campaigns against high-rise buildings in the 1970s and 1980s forced development to move south of Market Street.
Major tenants
- Bank of America
- Ernst & Young
- Goldman Sachs
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Lehman Brothers
- McKinsey and Company
- Morgan Stanley
- Sidley Austin Brown & Wood
- Shorenstein Company
- Tucker, Ellis & West
- UBS PaineWebber
External links
- 555 California Street Website (http://www.555cal.com/)
- Profile at Emporis Building Database (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=118721)