but never any grass. always closed and it's a very difficult entrance because wants to be welcoming to its members, but keep others out, so it's a challenge. >> this is an interesting photo you took. >> i exposed this one on purpose to try and make the point that the gross form of the building is so powerful that it tell it's you where the entrance is. you don't even have to see the door to know where to head. >> extreme symmetry and great cathedral. this is not the entrance that is commonly used except by the cardinal? >> as far as i know, it's never or very rarely on

special occasions >> i think it's special occasions, it's rarely opened. harvey took this because everyone uses the minor entries >> another monumental entries. anybody recognize this? >> the pg&e and this door with just for equipment. there is a little door next to to it for people, but the big equipment door has these carriage lamps, implying its a grand entrance for no one. >> the interesting thing is that that person consciously or unconsciously saw this big hole that had to be in the building and treated it with symbolic emphasizing

elements, not just lamps, but the protruding bay above the door to give inconsequential thing. >> i don't think its inconsequential. i think it was a good solution for this challenge. not too welcoming. this was the main entry to the oldest synagogue west of the mississippi, i think, up on bush street, near japantown, recently converted to a senior center. where they closed up the entry now a window with a coach backed up to. actually entry people go in is a tiny door 50 feet up the door that

says "disabled access" here that everybody goes in and out this tiny door. i think it's a big loss to take clearly what is intended to be the entry and block it up and sort of ignore it. >> this is very similar to the mill's building entry that we just looked at and goes no where. it's sad. it happens a lot to older buildings. >> i'm grateful they preserved the buildingx it's not easy to do to retrofit buildings. >> not sure it was appropriate because it was broken up into housing and theater space. >> a lot of the entrances that we saw are notable as being elaborate thing on a plain building. and the entrance sort of sets the tone more than anything else. this is an example

of a building where the style of entrance is completely carried through with the elaboration of the building at the roof line and the top of the base and so on. it's a very ambitious design. >> harvey, i haven't seen this, but something looks wrong to me with that. it's too plain. is it remodeled? >> i think it had no shingles. you mean the arch at the bottom? >> non-ornamental. i mean it looks as if it was added or something was subtracted from it. >> i think the latter. >> so all around the city we have canopies and marquees

and awnings and building markers, such as this. a canopy. >> move the building out to the street and protect you from the weather, but it's a way of making your building more prominent than it would ordinarily be, by pulling it out. >> it makes you think of sophisticated new yorkers and '30's movies getting out of a cab and the doormen ushering women through the rain. canopies on hyde street with rod iron brackets. >> gorgeous brackets. >> many of these have glass roofs and this might originally have been. i don't know how it was built, but i wouldn't be surprised. >> it looks like it was designed to be glass. everything about it does. >> here is a glass. gorgeous thing. >> look at the cantenary

curve. >> it's beautiful. >> here is a special issue that harvey wanted to raise today. >> quite a few examples of classically inspired designed that then sometimes inexplicably, as in this case decide decide not to be symmetrical. so you have above the entrance five bays, an odd number, just what you are supposed to have. and so the entrance is supposed to be centered under it. all temple fronts on odd number of bays, one, three, et cetera. why did they move it? it's bizarre. >> why do you think, harvey? do you think it was a planning issue or do you think they intentionally did this to dare to be different and create tension? >> i do not think that. i think it was to deal with

some issue inside. >> it's very thoughtfully done building. >> not some house in a neighborhood where the contractor just did it. there is an example of two columns marking the entrance to the door being oddly shift from the center of the bay window that they support. a building like this is produced in a less formal way than the previous one. they are both very strange though, that is for sure. >> this might have been a remodel because just below the windows sh it's quite different. so they could have modified that at some point. >> possibly. >> okay, here is another

remodel. definitely a remodel. added a floor of occupancy. >> this is a good contender for the insensitivity sweepstakes. >> they put it back. >> that is because i'm sure, because-- >> somebody made them do it. it has surprisingly stunning views for such a little house. i have been in it and it goes directly downhill. so you can see beautiful things. >> we're taking a little break here with the study in stripes. people eating. tables and chairs. where is this, harvey? oh, the museum of modern art. >> you have to struggle to find something interesting happening there. so the crosswalk was really what did it for me. >> one of the interesting things about this is just so many buildings now are being

bomb-proofed essentially for security reasons and putting up big huge concrete ballards and walls. i think one of the worst is the federal building and the civic center. this is by ken kay's work and i think it's more inviting homeland security project than i have seen in a long time, because these little planners, but it's designed to stop trucks from coming into the building. >> this is our age's version of the mill's building entrance. >> that is all that is left of it? just an arch. >> yeah. >> and then the arch flips on its edge and poking out here. >> you got it.

>> that is it. we have got the arch. >> dark too. foreboding. >> this is at the corner of 3rd and howard. i think a successful attemptin the hotel design to make an understandable entrance that completes the street wall at the corner. it's nice. >> there are no cars involved? where did the cars go? >> the cars are around the other side of the building. >> on howard. >> it's really lovely how the whole thing comes out. the entrance way is really two-stories high and it's just beautiful. the cornice and cap are just the right scale. >> it feels very appropriate. >> and speaking of the size of the column required this gigantic roofline, which it

has. it's terrific. >> mcdonald. he is the guy who designed the little box place for temporary shelter? >> yeah, he has several building in the city with this swooping, curving geometry, but he has clearly tried to deal consciously and thoughtfully with the entrance. >> pulling you in through vegetation. >> and you have showed up something earlier about space between buildings and here is another example. >> there are many precedents for it, actually. this is one of the ones i like better. i think that probably both buildings have the wood siding finish of the one on the right originally and for some

reason stuccoed over the one on the left at some later date. >> is this entry for both the buildings? >> yes. >> good, because if not, i wouldn't know which entrance for. a pair of buildings with a common corridor; enter inside. we don't have many courtyard entries. >> i was surprised how many came up when i started looking for them. >> i thought it was about six. >> that is how many. >> a classic theme. >> there are a lot of examples of this symmetrickal frame, but treated freely inside. >> this is also the trick of getting off the sloped sidewalk, level entry.

>> right. boy, that is a problem. >> it's very difficult. it's whimsical to me to have the up-and-down slot. >> very common question dealt with in immediate post-earthquake multi-unit buildings of making an entrance appear suitably formal for the main units, but still allowing access to a secondary basement space, which might be another living unit or a storage place, depending on whether it's an uphill lot or downhill lot. if it's a lot that slows down from the street, you could go down what look libe a basement unit and get daylight. >> it reminds me of new york city, a lot of ups and downs

and utilizion space wherever you can. >> there is tremendous opportunities to brighten this up. no ornamentation at all. it's really a missed opportunity, i think. >> need some of the light that harvey was mentioning, indirect light. >> here the doors are treated and paint a brighter color with brass or something. it's got a lot more interesting and liveliness to it. and even gold leaf numbers, things as simple as that. >> which are the original numbers in this case. many have survived. >> because it's lighter, brighter and more inviting. >> the terazo steps that are left until someone drops a refrigerator on them. >> and you can get the

terazo repaired. >> this has marble on the sides of the entry foyer, which is sort of traditionally slabs of marble. that is really welcoming, isn't it? the big guy in there. he is up in there somewhere. that is the most unadorned entrance i have ever seen. >> it's on an alley, so this is probably some sort of early working housing, i assume. >> exactly. >> where there wasn't a lot of ornament. it was simply shelter. >> right. i like the fact they painted these stairs red. >> right. >> giving it some presence.

harvey, you were saying you like this. >> i like the graphic expression to these things. there was some disagreement. >> i am not wildly about this. >> alan. >> i think all of the recessed openings are examples of things with won't see much more of, because the owners have so many problems with transients sleeping in them and that sort of thing. >> interesting you should bring that up. >> let's go to that area of our slideshow, because we only have ten minutes left and we want to cover that. you are right, richard, people are putting grates and grills everywhere. these must a propertiline wall that is not perpendicular. >> it's not columbus avenue and it's typical of every door on the street. >> this, just one of my favorite pieces of serendipitous--this is art.

>> i don't think it's serendipitous. someone really carefully-- >> they didn't think how to accentuate the entryway. the meters are all replace, all brand new electrical meters and whoever, ran them over the main entry and terminated it gorgeously. >> i guess it's going into the alley, the side entrance. >> it's beautiful. >> somebody really, really tried. >> we should find out who did the work. the tags are probably on those boxes there. this is an interesting entry down at the--what is it called? the warehouse. >> the oriental warehouse. >> they left the old

building wall and built inside it. >> i thought the city had a policy not to use reflective grass, but this is on redevelopment land or agency land. >> i think it could be just the lighting. >> really? >> yeah. it's another example of a entry court between two buildings. those go up to a common plaza. >> i didn't know about that. so there must be seven. >> there are two in this picture. >> we're going to talk briefly about the materials that people use, these gorgeous highly varnished looking like final yacht work inside the entries of some of these places >> to me it's the transition between natural environment and cultural environment, so

all the fine expense goes into that portal. >> who made this? >> dan freelander, an architect that says, i need security, but i can do art too. i can be artistic with my security. >> so what do you think? manzanita? >> looks like it. >> this is the typical architecture entry and i'm so pleased they didn't put grills in yes. >> they are on order. >> it's nice to see that in san francisco, a warm enough day to be sitting on the stoop and playing with the kids. this was a few weeks ago. >> one thing it's not only just for people to make that transition from nature, you have to do other things for

entry in san francisco. >> there is no back door from the streets. that is right. >> the same entry we have looked at before. >> grover place, right. here is where you can see they removed the original entry door trim and window trim and they are restoring it. we can see exactly when they removed. here is the one i was talking about, another teeny alley workers' house, that is highly ornamented and then took the alley way entry and trashed it and made it to the entrance of 117.5. >> and the contrast really highlights it. >> painting your door black takes some kind of

personality that i don't have. >> shiny black. you wander by my house and notice what color the door is-- >> so your house? that is what separates me. i haven't got the hutzpah for that. here is a new house, i think it's potrero. >> i like the contrast between the design of the door and the design of the window. >> there is truly a question. >> can i ask a question? >> sure. >> i noticed new housing have a water meter up front. >> gas meter. >> gas meter. it seems that is not appropriate for the front facade of a new

property and it's an eyesore. >> it's required now that it has to be read from the front. so it could be concealed except for the meter, but the idea is that the meter persons don't have to enter into private property any longer. so excuse me, it's sort of unfortunately, they are insisting on it. and it's really not pleasant, but what is interesting about this, pg&e aside, they also put a hose bib-- >> all these things are attached. >> the mailbox is inappropriate for the window and then the carriage lamps are also out of character. >> and then the numbers out of it. >> is there a way to conceal that gas meter? >> you could put it behind something, put it inside the house with a glass partner where the meter itself is.

>> here is another brand new building with no gas meter. these guys have figured it out. >> unless they have no heating. >> right, no gas. no heat. i wish i remembered the street name, except for the light over the garage, which is totally out of scale. >> too high. >> and too little. it's really quite beautiful. the narrowest building in san francisco, 9'11.75", does somebody remember? >> i was sitting there and then watching somebody buy this piece--this tiny strip of land and then this came about.

>> it's actually an interesting building. there is no other way other than putting a giant steel frame in. >> once you have stairs into had a 9' building, 8 feet inside and still have room? >> maybe we can do a special session. >> question on that? is there a lot size? >> the lot size is, i guess, ten feet. >> does that warrant an automatic variance on the parking requirement? >> i think they have parking. parking is in front. it's covered parking in front. >> a 9-foot wide car. >> i don't understand how you can meet the egress requirements that require you to pass in and out through an open, unobstructed path of travel, but i'm sure they have got it figured out. i don't see it though. think it's a

great building. schrader, i think it is. right near 17th street, it comes down the hill. okay, here we are at the very last-minute of our talk here. talking about why we're losing so many building entrances. we're losing them because we have people sweeping, using it as their home. unfortunately, that is what we end up and inside there is a lovely building entrance and now there is nothing. just a big piece of ornamental grill work. here is an open house where the kindest thing that this house can do to the street is open the grill to let people come in. that is how we invite people into a house for sale. unlock our gate. here they have also opened the garage. it's really a shame. here is an

alternative with the big sign "keep off." i guess the grill is coming. this is right by golden gate park and you can bet there are people in there. at alice pointed out at nighttime when all the grates are closed, it makes the city such a sad and hostile lace. that is it for san francisco builds. thank you harvey, thank you alice, that was great and thank you all for coming and we'll see you next month.

>> i am the chair of the club of science and technology member-