From Primedia Publications

The St. Francis
San Francisco, CA

By The Editors of HistoricTraveler.com


Famous for its place on San Francisco’s Union Square, politically powerful guests, public lobby, sumptuous accommodations and serious dining opportunities, the hotel St. Francis is best known to history lovers for surviving the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

The hotel’s management, Westin Hotels & Resorts, recognizes the significant place the St. Francis holds in San Francisco’s story and produces a pamphlet addressing the hotel’s history. It points out there was once another Saint Francis Hotel in the city, a rough building used in the Gold Rush era and destroyed by fire in 1853. Their St. Francis, the Westin’s, opened for business in March 1904 and for two years hosted high society and presented musical entertainments and art exhibits. On April 18, 1906, an earthquake of significant pre-Richter Scale proportions wracked the city, shaking prominent buildings to pieces. The formidable, multi-story St. Francis withstood the quake, but fires broke out and rolled through neighborhoods. Early on the 19th, the flames reached Union Square, filled with homeless quake victims. The hotel’s history pamphlet quotes novelist Jack London’s report that the St. Francis was the last building there to catch fire.

Though its interior was partially destroyed, the superstructure withstood the flames. The hotel’s rehabilitation took on significance, symbolizing San Francisco’s recovery from disaster. It reopened November 30, 1907, and since has played a broad role in history.

The St. Francis has hosted royalty (the late Emperor Hirohito and Queen Elizabeth II among them), ten U.S. Presidents (most recently Reagan, Bush and Clinton), legions of diplomats, entertainment stars and movers and shakers such as General Douglas MacArthur. In 1945, it was briefly home to some of the United Nations’ first delegates.

Illustrious guests aside, the St. Francis is a place San Franciscans are comfortable with. Its 1,200 accommodations range from simple rooms to elaborate suites, and its turn-of-the-century lobby, fitted out with columns, filigree and marble, is a place to meet in the heart of the city; San Francisco’s famous cable cars leave them off at the St. Francis’ front door.

The St. Francis
335 Powell Street
San Francisco, California