Geary Theater and American Conservatory Theater: The Classical Playhouse

Why is it significant?

Pause before the ornate polychrome terracotta facade and monumental Corinthian columns of the Geary Theater at 415 Geary Street.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Pause before the ornate polychrome terracotta facade and monumental Corinthian columns of the Geary Theater at 415 Geary Street. Designed in 1910 by prominent theater architects Bliss and Faville, this magnificent one-thousand-seat playhouse opened under the name Columbia Theatre as a triumphant symbol of San Francisco's cultural rebirth following the 1906 disaster. Its classical pediment, carved urns, and theatrical masks celebrate the enduring magic of the dramatic arts in the heart of the city's downtown Theater District.

Over more than a century, the Geary Theater has hosted an astonishing pantheon of theatrical legends, from Sarah Bernhardt and Isadora Duncan to Clark Gable and Helen Hayes. Since 1967, it has served as the permanent flagship home of the Tony Award-winning American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), one of the nation's premier regional theater companies and acting conservatories, which trained acclaimed actors including Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, and Nicolas Cage.

When the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake violently struck during technical rehearsals, a massive section of the ceiling plaster and a lighting grid collapsed into the auditorium. Through a determined six-year, thirty-million-dollar community restoration campaign, the theater was seismically retrofitted and reopened in 1996 in pristine historic splendor. Every surrounding viewpoint, weathered stone pillar, and historic pathway tells an essential chapter of California's ongoing transformation from a rugged frontier outpost into a world-renowned Pacific metropolis. Every surrounding viewpoint, weathered stone pillar, and historic pathway tells an essential chapter of California's ongoing transformation from a rugged frontier outpost into a world-renowned Pacific metropolis. Every surrounding viewpoint, weathered stone pillar, and historic pathway tells an essential chapter of California's ongoing transformation from a rugged frontier outpost into a world-renowned Pacific metropolis.

Look above the box office windows at the intricate terra-cotta cartouches; they depict comedy and tragedy masks framed by laurel wreaths, cast in fire-resistant architectural ceramic.

Walk north along Mason Street to Sutter Street, turning right to reach the soaring Mayan Revival tower at 450 Sutter.