Get A Load Of This Waterfall That Was Almost Built In San Francisco

San Francisco ’s skyline has a handful of famous landmark scatter around the urban center — the Transamerica Tower , the Painted Ladies , the Golden Gate Bridge — but the most visible might be Sutro Tower , standing 977 - feet - magniloquent on Twin Peaks since 1973 . As icons go , it ’s definitely got the minimum , industrial - chic vibe going on — essentially the complete opposite of this challenging 1933 programme for an illuminated memorial and water feature cascading down the hillside . Whaaaa ? ?

The Bold Italicunearthed the figure , which was an unrealized part ofBernard Maybeck‘s neo - classical urban fantasy . The Bay Area architect designed the Beaux - ArtsPalace of Fine Artsin the Marina , which is still a lovely , if not anachronistic , local architectural gemstone ( and commonmovie backdrop ) .

I candidly ca n’t stop staring at this representative . Even with the common law , it seems improbable at best that Maybeck thought he could actually swing out this . I mean , it ’s just so … opulent . It ’s bold in a fashion that seems at betting odds with the colored , kinky Victorians and Edwardians that line so many of San Francisco ’s streets , and somehow , strangely , aligns more with the oversized and über - shinynew developmentssoon - to - be dotting ( or overshadow ) Market Street . I can only reckon an SF where , every few decades , a raft of immense , glimmering structures go up in place of the grubby middle bit , which will eventually be scrubbed forth entirely .

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Surprisingly , Maybeck ’s proposal was not in reality the first of its sort . Architect and plannerDaniel Burnhamproposed this Athenaeum to top Twin Peaks in 1905 , a concept that was derail in part by the massive earthquake that carry off fairly much everything in 1906 .

And here ’s another kindred concept from architect Henry Sewell in 1926 .

Most urban hubs are going to have ahistory of large ideasthat did n’t ever make it off the page , most of the fourth dimension for ( some ) good rationality ; late exhibitions inSFandLos Angeleshave explore these bizarro worlds in more depth . It ’s fun to consider how they could have change the landscape , and smart to return back to them for considerations in the future . [ The Bold Italic ]

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