The Chinese Garden, from the Yerba Buena Gardens Master Plan, n.d. [circa 1969], The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania by the gift of Lawrence Halprin

Benjamin H. Swig, Hotelman and Financier, Posing with Associates and Sketch of Plan for Redevelopment of Downtown City Blocks, courtesy of the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library

Ira Nowinski, Demolition of the Milner Hotel, Fourth and Mission, 1974. Courtesy of the artist

UPCOMING EXHIBITION

UNBUILT SAN FRANCISCO: The View from Futures Past
Curated by Benjamin Grant and Cydney M. Payton

September 6, 2013 – December 29, 2013

Opening Celebration
Friday, September 6, 2013, 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Music, performance, and art in Annie Alley, a side street turned temporary pedestrian plaza.
Visit the exhibition at both the California Historical Society and SPUR.
This event is free and sponsored by the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District.

RSVP UnbuiltSanFrancisco.eventbrite.com

CHS and SPUR join AIA San Francisco / Center for Architecture & Design; Environmental Design Archives, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley; and San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library in Unbuilt San Francisco, a five-venue exhibition examining visions of the urban landscape in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

The twentieth century saw both a series of ambitious efforts to reimagine the city of San Francisco and the explosive growth of the Bay Area as a metropolitan region. In Unbuilt San Francisco: The View from Futures Past, the California Historical Society and SPUR present some of the most revealing episodes in these distinct but related streams of civic discourse through projects that were proposed but never realized. Concern with a particular site, problem, or opportunity often spans a period of decades and presents a window into a city's changing attitudes, politics, and values. Every bit as much as the cities we build, the cities we imagine and reject reveal the collective creativity of the urban project and the imperfect civics of place-making.

The exhibition focuses on plans and schemes at scales from the district to the region, emphasizing planning, urban design, regionalism, and environmental management. The exhibition is divided into four components: Taming Nature, The Dream of the Integrated Region, District Revisions, and Transportation and Infrastructure.

This CHS exhibition has been generously supported by our funding sponsors: Adolph S. Rosekrans, Inc. Architects, The Bland Family Foundation, Carey & Co. Inc., Cody Anderson Wasney Architects, Matthew Adams, Webcor Builders, and Yerba Buena Community Benefit District.

In-kind support is provided by our partners: Center for Architecture + Design (CAD), American Institute of Architects, San Francisco (AIASF), Environmental Design Archives at UC Berkeley (EDA), Hafner Vineyard, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), San Francisco Public Library (SFPL), Sherwin-Williams, and The Cultural Landscape Foundation.

Institutional support to CHS is provided by: The Barkley Fund, The Bernard Osher Foundation, Hearst Foundation, Hewlett-Packard, The James Irvine Foundation, and San Francisco Grants for the Arts.