Russ Building, Gothic Revival skyscraper in Financial District, San Francisco, United States.
The Russ Building is a 32-story Neo-Gothic office tower at 235 Montgomery Street in San Francisco's Financial District. Its pale stone facade is divided into vertical piers and recessed dark windows, rising to a stepped, flat-topped crown with a small finial. Gothic-arched windows appear below, with pointed-arch motifs near the top.
Completed in 1927 to designs by George W. Kelham, the Russ Building rose 133 metres on 32 floors and remained San Francisco's tallest until 1964, matched only by its 133-metre twin, the PacBell Building to the south. It held the city's first indoor parking garage. From 1960 to 1990, Manhattanization surrounded it with taller towers, ending its skyline dominance.
Until Sand Hill Road rose in the 1980s, many of the largest venture capital firms kept offices in the Russ Building. The tower's name comes from the Russ family, and its tenants made it a center of western progress, as Architect and Engineer put it in 1927.
The Russ Building occupies a full block fronting Montgomery Street in the Financial District, with the PacBell Building, its 133-metre twin, standing to the south. The tower holds the city's first indoor parking garage, completed with the building in 1927. Visitors approach on foot from the surrounding office streets; the stepped crown is best seen by looking up from the Montgomery Street side.
Architect George W. Kelham deliberately merged medieval architectural elements with modern office building design. This uncommon pairing of Gothic details within a functional commercial tower set it apart from other skyscrapers of its era.
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