The Ferry Building, gateway to the bay

In front of you is the building that for decades was San Francisco's real front door. Market Street, the city's great avenue, ends right here, aimed straight at its clock tower.

1The ferry terminal

Designed by architect A. Page Brown, it opened in 1898. Until the Bay Bridge (1936) and the Golden Gate Bridge (1937) opened, anyone arriving by train from the east or from the towns around the bay crossed by ferry and landed here. In its busiest years, tens of thousands of passengers a day passed through its slips. It is often said that the tower was modeled on the Giralda in Seville, but there is no documentary evidence for it.

2Two earthquakes and a freeway

The building came through the 1906 earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta quake with only light damage. What nearly made it disappear was something else: in the late 1950s, the elevated Embarcadero Freeway was built right in front of it, hiding it for three decades. The 1989 earthquake damaged the freeway, the city decided to tear it down, and the waterfront saw daylight again.

In the early 2000s, a restoration brought back its grand central nave and turned the ground floor into a marketplace for local producers.

Ferries still leave from the piers behind it, and outdoor farmers' markets fill the plaza several days a week.

3What to look for

• The clock tower, lined up with the axis of Market Street.
• The vintage streetcars of the F line, running along the Embarcadero.
• The Bay Bridge, on your right, which helped put the ferries out of business.