COURT OF APPEALS CONSTRUCTION ISSUES: SYSTEMS & CODES |
HISTORIC COURTHOUSE BUILDINGS - PRESERVATION AND REHABILITATION
NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS | MAIN POST OFFICE EXTERIOR DESCRIPTION
INTERIOR DESCRIPTION
HISTORY Perhaps as interesting as the Court of Appeal's architectural significance is its history. Federal authorities decided in the late 1880s that the federal Ninth Circuit of Appeals and San Francisco's Main Post Office both needed new permanent facilities. After several schemes were prepared by various government architects, the final design of the combined Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Main Post Office, was developed in the late 1890s by James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect in Washington, D.C. Construction took place between 1897 and 1905 and when the building was dedicated on August 29th, it became the focus of national attention. The San Francisco Call asserted that the building represented "the expression of the highest art in architecture." Sunset Magazine dubbed it "the best constructed public building in the country." The Court of Appeals elicited favorable comparisons with the contemporary Library of Congress in Washington.
Along with the Old Mint, the Court of Appeals earned the rare distinction of being one of a few major downtown buildings to escape the 1906 Earthquake and Fire relatively unscathed. Although the temblor contorted the ground beneath Mission and Seventh Streets and wracked the foundation, the building was by no means destroyed. More significant is how postal employees saved the building from the even more dangerous fire storm that swept down Stevenson Street, engulfing the neighboring frame. When the fire entered the Court of Appeals through a window in the northeast corner of the building, the postal workers kept it from spreading by ripping out wood doors and moldings and extinguishing the flames with water-soaked mail sacks, saving the building from total destruction. Within a few days, the Main Post Office was back in business and delivering mail to the outside world. After repairs were completed in 1907, the Court of Appeals continued to fulfill its two-fold mission for the next twenty years, until increasing court caseloads and mail volume physically pressed the building to its limits. In October 1930, the Supervising Architect of the United States announced plans to construct a $500,000 addition on the east elevation of the existing building. Local architect George Kelham was chosen to design it. Completed in October 1934, Kelham's exterior elevations imitated and simplified the 1905 structure. The interior spaces were much more restrained than the original interior, a result of Depression-imposed budget constraints and changing tastes. Courtroom Numbers 14 and 15 display a stripped variety of Classicism popular for the design of Depression-era federal buildings. From 1934 until 1989, the Court of Appeals operated with relatively few program or design changes, although over the years, incremental modifications, such as the installation of surface-mounted conduit and fluorescent fixtures, had taken their toll on the building's appearance. Following the Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 17, 1989, the Court of Appeals was heavily damaged and immediately vacated. After several years of careful planning, a $91 million rehabilitation began in the Spring of 1993. The Project Team included Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architect of record; Lehrer McGovern Bovis, construction manager; Page & Turnbull, historical consultant; Earthquake Protection Systems, base isolator designers and VSL Wester, base isolator manufacturers. The project was divided into two components: the seismic upgrade, and second: the rehabilitation of the structure, bringing the building up to code while preserving its significant historic features. Due to the exceptional quality and delicacy of interior finishes, it was determined that a seismic upgrade using base isolation was preferable to inserting shear walls through architecturally sensitive spaces. Additionally, the Main Post Office was converted into a Law Library. Almost two and a half years after construction began, the Court of Appeals was reopened on October 19, 1996.
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Many of the interior spaces of the Court of Appeals are embellished with expensive marble finishes and exquisitely carved stucco and woodwork produced by imported Italian artisans. Several of the marbles and woods used on the interior are no longer available today. Courtroom Number 1 and the First Floor Corridor are two of the most important interior spaces in the Court of Appeals. The ceiling of the 260 foot-long First Floor Corridor consists of a series of ornamental ribbed groin vaults. Arches spring from the bracketed entablature, which is supported on paired, half-round Doric columns. The walls are paneled with Pavanozzo, Alaskan Gravina and Italian Cippolino marbles. The floor is laid with small ceramic tiles laid in a mosaic pattern. Courtroom Number 1 is Court of Appeals' piece de resistance; featuring mosaic murals and a grandly ornamented plaster ceiling with three leaded skylights. Walls are paneled with Pavanazzo marble and crowned with a bracketed entablature. Panels at the southeast wall contain three ceramic-tile mosaic murals representing: Sciences, Literature and the Arts; the newly acquired territories of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii; Agriculture, Mining, and California. Other significant interior spaces include: Courtroom Numbers. 3, 14, 15, the Judges' Chambers, and the Second Floor Corridor.
However, not all were happy with the sumptuously appointed, 326,500 square-foot building that took eight years to construct and seemed to have a limitless budget. The Court of Appeals, with its expensive materials, imported artisans and delayed construction schedule, ended up costing taxpayers almost two and a half million dollars. The editorial staff of the Chronicle, unhappy with the expense and delays, grumbled about the "gaudy" finishes and the Architectural Record criticized the inauspicious location on Mission Street.
