Transamerica Pyramid

The Transamerica Pyramid as seen from Coit Tower.

The Transamerica Pyramid is the tallest and most recognizable skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline.

Built on the location of the historic Montgomery Block, it has a structural height of 260 meters (853 feet) and contains 48 stories of retail and office space. Construction began in 1969 and finished in 1972. Although it no longer houses the headquarters of the Transamerica Corporation, it is still strongly associated with the company and is depicted in the company's logo. The building itself is evocative of San Francisco and has become one of the many symbols of the city. Designed by architect William Pereira, it faced considerable opposition during its planning and construction, and was sometimes referred to by detractors as "Pereira's Prick". In 1999, Transamerica was acquired by Dutch insurance company AEGON. When most of Transamerica was later sold to GE Capital, AEGON retained the building.

The building itself is a tall, four-sided pyramid with two "wings" on opposite sides of the building. The wing to the east of the building contains an elevator shaft, while the wing to the west contains a stairwell and a smoke tower. The top 64.6 meters (212 feet) of the building is the spire. There are four cameras pointed in the four cardinal directions at the top of this spire forming a virtual observation deck. Four monitors in the lobby display the cameras' views 24 hours a day. An observation deck on the 27th floor was closed after the September 11, 2001 attacks, replaced by the aforementioned virtual observation deck. The top of the Transamerica pyramid is covered with aluminum panels and during the Christmas Holiday Season, Thanksgiving, and 4th of July a bright, white light is lit on top of the pyramid.

The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi from 1972-1974, at which point it was surpassed, somewhat ironically, by the Aon Center in Los Angeles - designed by Pereira's former business partner Charles Luckman.

The building is considered to have been the target of a terrorist attack, involving the hijacking of airplanes as part of Oplan Bojinka, which was foiled in 1995.

Trivia

The aluminium clad top of the Transamerica Pyramid

• The building's façade is covered in crushed quartz, giving the building its pure white color.
• The four-story base of the building contains a total of 16,000 cubic yards (12,233 m³) of concrete and over 300 miles (483 km) of steel rebar.
• It has 3,678 windows.
• The building's foundation is 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and was the result of a 24-hour continuous concrete pour.
• Only two of the building's 18 elevators reach the top floor.
• The building was parodied in the videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; in the game it was called the "Big Pointy Building" There where signs at the base for example: "Big Prick jokes are prohibitted"
• The original Transamerica building, located just down the street, is also a triangular-shaped building -- now occupied by the Church of Scientology of San Francisco (link).
• A near-identical structure can be seen as part of the Death Star, in Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope.
• Transamerica's original proposal called for a 1,150ft (350.5m) building, which would have been for one year the second tallest completed building in the world. The proposal was rejected by the city planning commission on the grounds that it would have interfered with views of San Francisco Bay from Nob Hill.
• The building occupies the site which was the temporary home of A.P. Giannini's Bank of Italy after the San Francisco earthquake destroyed its office. Giannini founded Transamerica in 1928 as a holding company for his financial empire. Bank of Italy later became Bank of America.
• The Transamerica Pyramid is often called the "Pyramid Building" by tourists.

See also

• 49-Mile Scenic Drive

External links

• The Pyramid Center official website
• SF Gate article on the Pyramid

• SkyscraperPage - side-by-side diagrams of SF skyscrapers