Russ Building and Neo-Gothic Skyscraper King: The 1927 Giant

Why is it significant?

Gaze up at the sheer vertical piers and gothic tracery of the Russ Building at 235 Montgomery Street, an undisputed monarch of San Francisco's Financial District. Completed in 1927 by master architect George W.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Gaze up at the sheer vertical piers and gothic tracery of the Russ Building at 235 Montgomery Street, an undisputed monarch of San Francisco's Financial District. Completed in 1927 by master architect George W. Kelham, this monumental thirty-one-story skyscraper rises four hundred thirty-five feet into the sky. Modelled closely on the iconic Tribune Tower in Chicago, the Russ Building tied with the Pacific Telephone Building as the tallest skyscraper on the Pacific Coast of the United States from 1927 until 1964, standing as the supreme symbol of San Francisco's financial supremacy.

Step inside the opulent ground-floor lobby and admire the cathedral-like vaulted ceilings, polished Travertine walls, and ornamental bronze elevator doors engraved with medieval shields and gothic spires. Built for the pioneering Russ family—German immigrants who established a Gold Rush hotel on this site in 1849—the skyscraper was engineered with visionary conveniences, including the first indoor multi-level parking garage built inside a high-rise office building in the American West, featuring an automobile elevator system that amazed 1920s drivers.

Known for decades as the 'Wall Street of the West', Montgomery Street was lined with the Pacific Stock Exchange, major national brokerage houses, and private investment banks, with the Russ Building serving as their prestigious corporate address. 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 at the decorative stone gargoyles and eagles perched on the 30th-floor observation setbacks; they look down like silent sentinels over the street canyons.

Walk north on Montgomery Street half a block to California Street, arriving at the Merchants Exchange Building.