Montgomery Block
(California Historical Landmark #80)
Lobby of the Transamerica Pyramid
600 Montgomery
600 Montgomery
If you read this plaque carefully you might notice something unusual. By stating, “This, San Francisco’s first fireproof building… is preserved in memory…” the implication is that the building still stands. Actually the plaque is the same one placed on the Montgomery Block on September 8, 1955. When the building was torn down four years later, entrepreneur S. E. Onorato asked that the plaque be saved. In September, 1974, two years after the Transamerica Pyramid was opened , the plaque was placed in the lobby of that building.
When it opened on December 23, 1853 it was called the Washington Block. It would stand for over a hundred years, and consequently had a rich history. Commonly called the Montgomery Block the builders renamed it within a year. In time it would be known affectionately as the Monkey Block.
Situated between Montgomery and Sansome, Washington and Merchant (when Merchant ran all the way to Montgomery) and four stories tall it was the largest building in the West. At that time “when the water came up to Montgomery Street” military engineer Henry Halleck (later general in chief of the Union Army) decided to construct the building on a raft of crisscrossing redwood logs. This led to it being referred to as “Halleck’s Folly” and the “Floating Fortress.” However, the design allowed it to withstand earthquakes.
Immediately occupied by lawyers it quickly became San Francisco’s legal center and housed the city’s first law library.
Massive vaults in the basement were used to store gold. Raw gold was brought in and transformed to ingots. Agoston Haraszthy, “Father of California Viticulture,” used the cool cellars to store and age his prized wines. The Sutro Library, a collection of a quarter-million rare volumes, was stored there. When Sutro died in 1898 the library was locked
The Bank Exchange, an elegant bar on the northeast corner, with its black-and-white checked marble floor and polished mahogany bar, was where movers and shakers would meet to work out deals. An entrance on Washington made it accessible to women where they had their own room. At that time women never drank in public. As much a club as saloon it was the precursor of exclusive clubs such as the Bohemian and the Pacific Union.
Pisco Punch, created by Duncan Nicol, was the drink that made the saloon world famous. It was rumored that if you said "San Francisco" in Singapore someone would reply, "Pisco Punch."
After editor James King of William was shot after leaving his office by James Casey near the Bank Exchange he was taken to room 207 of the Montgomery Block. He died six days later. Overnight the Vigilance Committee of 1856 was organized.
Oliver Stidger had one of the last law firms in the block and assisted Sun-Yat-Sen and Wong Sam Arch in drafting the proclamation of the Republic of China.
The 1890s began to see an influx of literary luminaries. George Sterling, Jack London, Frank Norris, Kathleen and Charles Norris, and Charles Caldwell Dobie all had studios there. Others such as Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling and H. L. Menchen visited, frequently spending time at the Bank Exchange. It was here that Mark Twain befriended a young bartender by the name to Tom Sawyer.
After the earthquake of 1906, while fires raged in the business district, Stidger pleaded with soldiers, who had already set up kegs of powder, not to blow up the building since it was fireproof and would provide a firebreak. He was successful and not only saved the building but also Sutro’s library, possibly worth more than the building itself. In 1955 Stidger was the man who pulled the string to unveil the commemorative plaque on the building.
The most thorough history of Montgomery Block is probably Idwal Jones's Ark of Empire: San Francisco's Montgomery Block published in 1951.
When it opened on December 23, 1853 it was called the Washington Block. It would stand for over a hundred years, and consequently had a rich history. Commonly called the Montgomery Block the builders renamed it within a year. In time it would be known affectionately as the Monkey Block.
Situated between Montgomery and Sansome, Washington and Merchant (when Merchant ran all the way to Montgomery) and four stories tall it was the largest building in the West. At that time “when the water came up to Montgomery Street” military engineer Henry Halleck (later general in chief of the Union Army) decided to construct the building on a raft of crisscrossing redwood logs. This led to it being referred to as “Halleck’s Folly” and the “Floating Fortress.” However, the design allowed it to withstand earthquakes.
Immediately occupied by lawyers it quickly became San Francisco’s legal center and housed the city’s first law library.
Massive vaults in the basement were used to store gold. Raw gold was brought in and transformed to ingots. Agoston Haraszthy, “Father of California Viticulture,” used the cool cellars to store and age his prized wines. The Sutro Library, a collection of a quarter-million rare volumes, was stored there. When Sutro died in 1898 the library was locked
The Bank Exchange, an elegant bar on the northeast corner, with its black-and-white checked marble floor and polished mahogany bar, was where movers and shakers would meet to work out deals. An entrance on Washington made it accessible to women where they had their own room. At that time women never drank in public. As much a club as saloon it was the precursor of exclusive clubs such as the Bohemian and the Pacific Union.
Pisco Punch, created by Duncan Nicol, was the drink that made the saloon world famous. It was rumored that if you said "San Francisco" in Singapore someone would reply, "Pisco Punch."
After editor James King of William was shot after leaving his office by James Casey near the Bank Exchange he was taken to room 207 of the Montgomery Block. He died six days later. Overnight the Vigilance Committee of 1856 was organized.
Oliver Stidger had one of the last law firms in the block and assisted Sun-Yat-Sen and Wong Sam Arch in drafting the proclamation of the Republic of China.
The 1890s began to see an influx of literary luminaries. George Sterling, Jack London, Frank Norris, Kathleen and Charles Norris, and Charles Caldwell Dobie all had studios there. Others such as Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling and H. L. Menchen visited, frequently spending time at the Bank Exchange. It was here that Mark Twain befriended a young bartender by the name to Tom Sawyer.
After the earthquake of 1906, while fires raged in the business district, Stidger pleaded with soldiers, who had already set up kegs of powder, not to blow up the building since it was fireproof and would provide a firebreak. He was successful and not only saved the building but also Sutro’s library, possibly worth more than the building itself. In 1955 Stidger was the man who pulled the string to unveil the commemorative plaque on the building.
The most thorough history of Montgomery Block is probably Idwal Jones's Ark of Empire: San Francisco's Montgomery Block published in 1951.