Best Stock Exchange Building Oakland Near Me

4worldlovers: Designed by the noted San Francisco architectural firm Miller & Pflueger under the direction of Timothy Pflueger (1892–1946), the 11-story building opened just one year after the stock market crash. The Stock Exchange Tower housed the offices of brokers who worked on the trading floor of the adjacent San Francisco Stock Exchange at 301 Pine Street, which currently houses Equinox Fitness.


Pflueger, one of the first California architects to incorporate Classic European Modernism into his work, believed that great art should be an integral part of great architecture. He commissioned a number of the era’s most renowned artists and craftsmen to work on The Stock Exchange Tower, which is considered the finest example of the interior art deco style in the city and among the finest examples in the state. Now home to The City Club of San Francisco, the building formerly housed The Pacific Stock Exchange Lunch Club (1930–1987).


The City Club of San Francisco’s formal entrance on the tenth floor features a bank of elevator doors faced with images designed by interior architect Michael Goodman and executed by English artist Harry Dixon (1890–1967). Five different metals are featured: silver, Monel (nickel alloys), copper, bronze and brass. The first pair of elevator doors shows San Francisco at air level, at land level and below sea level. The second pair depicts the four winds and two hemispheres of the world. The third pair presents the convergence of old and new architecture and fashion and transportation.


Between the tenth and eleventh floors, the remarkable grand staircase balusters designed by Robert Boardman Howard (1896-1983) are fashioned using chrome-plated steel. Stylized figures in brass represent a day in the life of a stockbroker, clad in business, golf and formal evening attire. The newel post at the base of the staircase forms the initials “PSELC” for The City Club of San Francisco’s original name, The Pacific Stock Exchange Lunch Club.

American artist Ralph Stackpole (1895–1973)—who created the monumental sculptures that flank the entrance of the adjacent San Francisco Stock Exchange—was responsible for commissioning artists for the interior of The City Club of San Francisco. His choice of Mexican artist Diego Rivera (1886–1957) was controversial at the time. Local newspapers referred to the incongruity of selecting a Hispanic artist of Rivera’s leftward political leanings to create a mural in “the citadel of capitalism.” Nonetheless, the renowned artist arrived in 1931 and completed what became the centerpiece and the symbol of The City Club of San Francisco.

Rivera created his first U.S. fresco on the wall and the ceiling of the grand stairwell of The City Club of San Francisco. The central figure represents Calafia, the Spirit of California, for whom the state is named. Her right hand mines the Earth for its hidden treasure while her left hand holds the treasures that grow aboveground.

Tennis professional and Olympic gold medalist Helen Wills Moody (1905–1998), a friend of Stackpole’s, posed as Calafia. The fresco also features portraits of carpenter James Marshall, whose discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill started the California Gold Rush, and famed horticulturist Luther Burbank. Other figures represent an engineer, a merchant and a farmer panning for gold. Youth and its dreams are represented by a boy holding an airplane. (The model was Stackpole’s son Peter, now an award-winning photographer.) The oil industry and shipping are illustrated above Calafia’s shoulders.

The large figure on the ceiling is positioned diagonally, reflecting the diagonal line created by the stair rail. Flanked by the sun and billowy clouds, the image depicts electrical achievement.

In addition to carving the panels on the stairwell flanking Rivera’s fresco, Stackpole chose several fellow California artists to create the original designs gracing The City Club of San Francisco today. The sculpted corner pieces and panels are the endeavors of Ruth Cravath (1902–1985), Adeline Kent Howard (1900–1957), Robert Boardman Howard and Clifford Wright (1919–1999). The bronze of a mountain lion by noted sculptor Arthur Putnam (1873–1930) is located in the alcove near the restrooms. Painter and lithographer Otis Oldfield (1890–1969) created the hunting scenes on The Wine Cellar’s windows to simulate stained glass. Originally named The Grille Room, the space functioned as a bar during prohibition.