The Transamerica Pyramid is a pyramid-shaped 48-story modernist skyscraper in San Francisco, California, United States, and the second tallest building in the San Francisco skyline. Located at 600 Montgomery Street between Clay and Washington Streets in the city's Financial District, it was the tallest building in San Francisco from its completion in 1972 until 2017 when the newly constructed Salesforce Tower surpassed its height. The building no longer houses the headquarters of the Transamerica Corporation, which moved its U.S. headquarters to Baltimore, Maryland. The building is still associated with the company by being depicted on the company's logo. Designed by architect William Pereira and built by Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company, the building stands at . On completion in 1972 it was the eighth-tallest building in the world. It is also a popular tourist site. In 2020, the building was sold to NYC investor Michael Shvo, who in 2022 hired Norman Foster to redesign the interiors and renovate the building. As of April 2026, the Transamerica Pyramid Center was acquired by Yoda PLC, a Cyprus-based investment firm led by Greek investor Ioannis Papalekas.

History

The area in which the building stands is historically important in the history of San Francisco. It is built on reclaimed land and stands on what was once the shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove, around which the Mexican pueblo of Yerba Buena was founded in 1834. During the Mexican-American War, a detachment from the USS Portsmouth landed on this shoreline in 1846 and raised the American flag at what is now Portsmouth Square, establishing American ownership of the city. Land reclamation of Yerba Buena Cove proceeded rapidly in the expanding city, and the Montgomery Block building was built on the site in 1853. The building housed offices and apartments for some of the city's best-known financiers, lawyers, and artists for over 100 years, before being demolished in 1959 and replaced by a parking lot.

Transamerica Corporation was founded by A. P. Giannini in 1928, who bought the former Fugazi Bank Building at 4 Columbus Avenue, across from Montgomery Block, as a home for the newly-founded company. The flatiron-shaped building served as the headquarters for Transamerica Corporation until its 1972 move across the street into the Transamerica Pyramid. The former Transamerica Building now serves as San Francisco headquarters of the Church of Scientology.

The new Transamerica building was commissioned by Transamerica CEO John (Jack) R. Beckett, who chose an unusual pyramidal shape because he wished to allow light in the street below. Construction began on the site of the former Montgomery Block in 1969 and was completed in 1972, overseen by San Francisco–based contractor Dinwiddie Construction, now Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company. Upon completion, the building had a structural height of and 48 floors of retail and office space.

The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest skyscraper west of Chicago upon completion in 1972, surpassing the then Bank of America Center, also in San Francisco. It was surpassed by the Aon Center, Los Angeles, in 1974. In 2017, the still under-construction Salesforce Tower surpassed the Transamerica Pyramid as the tallest building in San Francisco, and upon completion in 2018, surpassed the Transamerica Pyramid by 117 feet in roof height and by 217 in total height.

The building is evocative of San Francisco and has become one of the many symbols of the city. Designed by architect William Pereira, it faced opposition during planning and construction and was sometimes referred to by detractors as "Pereira's Prick". John King of the San Francisco Chronicle summed up the improved opinion of the building in 2009 as "an architectural icon of the best sort – one that fits its location and gets better with age." King also wrote in 2011 that it is "a uniquely memorable building, a triumph of the unexpected, unreal and engaging all at once. ... It is a presence and a persona, snapping into different focus with every fresh angle, every shift in light." It is one of 39 San Francisco high rises reported by the U.S. Geological Survey as potentially vulnerable to a large earthquake, due to a flawed welding technique.

In 1999, Transamerica was acquired by the Dutch insurance company Aegon. Transamerica and Aegon maintained only minimal presence in the building, with the majority of Transamerica's operations being shifted to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and other back office locations around the United States. In 2022, SHVO and partners hired architect Norman Foster to undertake a $250 million renovation. while The New York Times reported that it has been closed "[s]ince the late 1990s".

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">

File:Transamerica Pyramid base.jpg|Base

File:The Transamerica Pyramid.jpg|The Transamerica Pyramid

File:Downtown San Francisco in 2012.jpg|From Columbus Avenue (2012)

File:San Francisco harbor scene with Transamerica Pyramid.jpg|From San Francisco Bay (2017)

File:Sebastien Gabriel 2016-03-03 (Unsplash vppR0Z6U zY).jpg|Steep aerial view, featuring spire (2016)

File:Dusk view of San Francisco, California LCCN2011631129.tif|Aerial view at dusk

File:View from 555 California Street in San Francisco - panoramio (4).jpg|Viewed from 555 California (2009)

File:Transamerica Pyramid 2023.jpg|Viewed from the Embarcadero (2023)

</gallery>

Park

thumb|The Redwood Park on the grounds of the Transamerica Pyramid at dusk|alt=|left|200x200px

At the base of the building is a half-acre privately owned public space designed by Tom Galli called Redwood Park. A number of redwood trees were transplanted to this park from the Santa Cruz Mountains when the tower was built. It features a fountain and pond designed by Anthony Guzzardo, containing a jumping frog and lily pads bronze sculpture commemorating "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain (sculpture by Richard Clopton, 1996); a Glenna Goodacre bronze sculpture of children at play (1989); a bronze plaque honoring the dogs Bummer and Lazarus, celebrating their skill at catching rats; and benches and tables offering respite to workers and visitors alike.

Specifications

  • The building's façade is covered in crushed quartz, giving the building its light color.
  • The four-story base contains of concrete and over of steel rebar.
  • It has 3,678 windows.
  • The building's foundation is thick, the result of a 3-day, 24-hour continuous concrete pour. Several thousand dollars in coins were thrown into the pit by observers surrounding the site at street level during the pouring, for good luck.
  • Only two of the building's 18 elevators reach the top floor.
  • The original proposal was for a building, which for a year would have been the second-tallest completed building in the world. The proposal was rejected by the city planning commission, saying it would interfere with views of San Francisco Bay from Nob Hill.
  • The hull of the whaling vessel Niantic, an artifact of the 1849 California Gold Rush, lay almost beneath the Transamerica Pyramid, and the location is marked by a historical plaque outside the building (California Historical Landmark #88).
  • The aluminum cap is indirectly illuminated from within to balance the appearance at night.
  • The two wings increase interior space at the upper levels. One extension is the top of elevator shafts while the other is a smoke evacuation tower for fire-fighting.
  • A glass pyramid cap sits at the top and encloses a red aircraft warning light and the brighter seasonal beacon.
  • Because of the shape of the building, the majority of the windows can pivot 360 degrees so they can be washed from the inside.
  • Crux Informatics
  • Greenhill & Co.
  • Heller Manus Architects
  • Incapture Group
  • Mars Inc.
  • On Lok
  • Pantheon Ventures
  • Rembrandt Venture Partners
  • TSG Consumer Partners
  • Union Square Advisors LLC
  • URS Corporation

Similar structures

  • Burj Khalifa, a building in Dubai
  • Ryugyong Hotel, a building in Pyongyang
  • The Shard, a building in London

See also

  • 49-Mile Scenic Drive
  • List of tallest buildings
  • List of tallest buildings in San Francisco
  • List of tallest pyramids

References

  • About the Pyramid at Transamerica Corporation
  • Transamerica Pyramid at PropertyShark