Portal: San Francisco's Ferry Building and the Reinvention of American Cities

A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceA window to the soul of a great city. Inga Saffron, Pulitzer Prizewinning architecture criticA two-time Pulitzer finalist explores the story of American urban design through San Franciscos iconic Ferry Building.Conceived in the Gilded Age, the Ferry Building opened in 1898 as San Franciscos portal to the worldthe terminus of the transcontinental railway and a showcase of civic ambition. In silent films and Worlds Fair postcards, nothing said San Francisco more than its soaring clocktower.But as acclaimed architectural critic John King recounts in Portal, the rise of the automobile and double-deck freeways severed the city from its beloved structure and its waterfronta connection that required generations to restore.Kings narrative spans the rise and fall and rebirth of the Ferry Building. Rich with feats of engineering and civic imagination, his story introduces colorful figures who fought to preserve the Ferry Buildings character (and the citys soul)from architect Arthur Page Brown and legendary columnist Herb Caen to poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Senator Dianne Feinstein.In Kings hands, the saga of the Ferry Building is a microcosm of a larger evolution along the waterfronts of cities everywhere. Portal traces the damage inflicted on historic neighborhoods and working dockyards by cars, highways, and top-down planning and urban renewal. But when an earthquake destroyed the Embarcadero Freeway, city residents seized the chance to reclaim their connection to the bay. Transporting readers across 125 years of history, this tour de force explores the tensions impacting urban infrastructure and public spaces, among them tourism, deindustrialization, development, and globalization. Portal culminates with a rich portrait of San Franciscos vibrant esplanade today, visited by millions, even as sea level rise and earthquakes threaten a landmark that remains as vital as ever.A book for city lovers and visitors, architecture fans and pedestrians, Portal is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of San Francisco and the future of American cities.