The Burnham Plan
In 1904, Daniel Burnham was invited by the mayor of San Francisco to redesign the entire city as an exemplar of the City Beautiful movement: to replace the supposedly hodge podge city with a coordinated plan that would give the city an order and beauty on a par with Paris or Wasington, D.C. Here are a few images from that plan:
Burnham's Redesign includes a series of radiating focal points (such as the Place de l'Étoile in Paris) and a strip of green connecting Golden Gate Park to the Civic Center.
Burnham's Athenaeum, approxinately the site of San Francisco State University today
“High in the hills grouped about Twin Peaks, yet sheltered by them, it is proposed to establish an Athenaeum.
"Its natural site is the termination of the great vista from the hills north of Twin Peaks to the Merced country and the ocean. The orientation on its axis is a good one, facing neither the prevailing winds of summer nor winter.
"The Athenaeum, so called, should receive some few of the greatest works of art. It would consist of courts, terraces and colonnaded shelters. These latter would be arranged after the manner of the great Poecile of the Villa Hardian. This consists of a wall so built as to collect the warmth of the sun and afford protection from the wind. On either side of the wall is a colonnade with a covered promenade where visitors may walk in the sunshine or the shade without being bothered by the wind. There should also be protected or colonnaded terraces commanding the principal views of the city and parkland. These too, might be modeled on similar terraces commanding the principal views in the Villa Hadrian overlooking the Vale of Tempe.”
Burnham's vision for Telegraph Hill and North Beach
