Self-Guided Tours

San Francisco’s North Waterfront

The Modernist Fontana Towers marked a moment of transition in San Francisco’s North Waterfront neighborhood from an industrial area to a tourist destination and residential area—and shaped the conversation around preservation and urban design that would inform the adaptive reuse of Ghirardelli Square and the Cannery by notable Modernist architects, landscape architects, and graphic designers.

San Francisco’s Chinatown

While best known for its Chinese-inspired architecture, Chinatown also has some fantastic examples of Modernist architecture, including the Hilton Hotel designed by Clement Chen, Buddha’s Universal Church by Worley K. Wong, the former Empress of China, and the Ping Yuen public housing project. These projects, many designed by Chinese American architects, while Modernist in style still take cues from the surrounding built environment of Chinatown.