Farewell Favorites: Emporium

I Magnin, corner of Geary and Stockton, 1989. Detail
In 1996, the Emporium, then San Francisco's oldest department store, closed its doors for good. The Emporium building was constructed at 835-865 Market Street in 1896 and rebuilt in 1908. For a few years following the demise of the Emporium, the building housed Macy's furniture department. The vacant complex of buildings that made up the Emporium are the subject of a $500 million redevelopment project that will include a 375,000 sq. ft. Bloomingdale's store, as well as 237,000 sq. ft. of office space and a luxury hotel. As with the City of Paris department store 20 years earlier, architectural and environmental preservationists were unable to block the Bloomingdale's project, which was green lighted by a court in October, 2002. I Magnin and The White House are also famed department stores of San Francisco's yesteryear.

Detail I
Detail II
Detail III

Detail IV
Detail V
Detail VI
Detail VII

Detail VIII
Detail IX

Detail X
Detail XI


Copyright 2002 Hank Donat
mistersf.com home