Civic Center Plaza

Civic Center Plaza is a wide, four-and-a-half-acre open space defined by its symmetrical layout of London plane trees and its position at the ceremonial heart of San Francisco. It sits between the expansive Beaux-Arts facade of City Hall to the west and the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library to the east. This area took its present form in the early twentieth century after the nineteen oh six earthquake and fire prompted a citywide reconstruction effort. The plaza was designed to serve as the centerpiece of a grand administrative district, intended to showcase the city's civic ambitions through a formal arrangement of classical buildings.