Mutual Savings Bank Building, Bank building in Financial District, San Francisco, United States

The Mutual Savings Bank Building is a 12-story French Renaissance Revival structure completed in 1902 at the corner of Market, Kearny, and Geary Streets. Architect William F. Curlett gave its light grey stone facade six paired columns of windows, pilasters with carved capitals, and a top row of three arched windows beneath a bracketed cornice. Its steel frame carries two stories of Raymond granite and ten of Colusa sandstone, limestone, and terracotta.

The building was constructed in 1902 and survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake with minimal damage due to its steel frame construction. This resilience demonstrated that modern building techniques of the era worked and made the structure a model for safe construction.

The bank was founded in 1889 by James Phelan, his son James D. Phelan, James G. Fair and James K. Moffitt, and the 1902 headquarters announced the institution at a corner where three streets meet. Look for the carved ornament at the base and the pilaster capitals between the paired window columns, details that mark the French Renaissance Revival treatment of the light grey stone facade.

The building stands at the corner of Market, Kearny and Geary Streets, with the 2013 ten-story addition to its left. The rooftop garden of that addition is a privately owned public space open to visitors, with views over the city. The 1902 facade is best seen from across Market Street.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, making it one of the oldest standing tall buildings in the city. This protection preserves its original structure for future generations to experience the architecture of this early skyscraper era.