KTVU HBB Story =

http://www.ktvu.com/news/56555675-story

Cops identify infuriating Hibernia Bank graffiti tagger, issue warrant for arrest - C.W. Nevius Blog

Cops identify infuriating Hibernia Bank graffiti tagger, issue warrant for arrest - C.W. Nevius Blog:



'via Blog this'

Hibernia Bank - Moving Forward

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » Historic Hibernia Bank Moving Forward:

'via Blog this'

Historic Hibernia Bank Building: Then, Now And As Newly Proposed at SocketSite™

Historic Hibernia Bank Building: Then, Now And As Newly Proposed at SocketSite™:

'via Blog this'

Hibernia Bank rebuild looks to cash in on Mid-Market revitalization | Dan Schreiber | Development | San Francisco Examiner

Hibernia Bank rebuild looks to cash in on Mid-Market revitalization | Dan Schreiber | Development | San Francisco Examiner:

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San Francisco Landmark #130: Hibernia Bank

San Francisco Landmark #130: Hibernia Bank:

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Mid-Market tax break plan in works to lure Twitter

Mid-Market tax break plan in works to lure Twitter

Hibernia Bank, 1 Jones Street, Tenderloin, San Francisco, California

Click here for some great outside shots

Scroll down for some interior shots

Hibernia Bank, 1 Jones Street, Tenderloin, San Francisco, California

Hibernia Bank building featured in 1997 Film

http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Eddie-Murphy/dp/6304806450

Great interior shots.  Actually a pretty good movie too! 

CityPlace gets the green light from the Board of Supervisors : City Insider

A great day for Mid-Market.

Let's get this thing started, now!

Click here for all the info

CityPlace gets the green light from the Board of Supervisors : City Insider

Great interior shots - from Curbed

Jones Street Cable Car being torn out

Our Paritially-Restored Hibernia Bank Building is Now Remarkably Pigeon-Free « San Francisco Citizen

Our Paritially-Restored Hibernia Bank Building is Now Remarkably Pigeon-Free « San Francisco Citizen

Graffiti cleaned off

Flickr friend sends photo.. NICE

HBB tagged by graffitti - Jan 2009

From Jones Street... August 2009

Hibernia mystery deal solved, buyer revealed

San Francisco Business Times
October 13, 2008 Monday
LENGTH: 615 words
HEADLINE: Hibernia mystery deal solved, buyer revealed
BYLINE: J.K. Dineen
BODY:
In one of the more mysterious San Francisco real estate transactions in recent memory, the Dolmen Property Group has purchased the historic Hibernia Bank building and plans to bring the baroque structure up to code and then lease it.

Dolmen Property Group Managing Director Seamus Naughten said the $3.9 million investment is a long-term hold and that the plans for the 1892 structure at Jones and Market streets are up in the air. He said his company would complete all necessary construction work to bring the structure back to life. He called the Hibernia "a very unique property with unlimited potential."
"We honestly don't have anything concrete to put in there, but we see the Hibernia as a gem of a building with oodles of potential," he said.

He said the building, which served as the San Francisco Police Department's Tenderloin station from 1991 to 2000 after the bank vacated it, could be used for social events or a cultural use, like a museum.

The sale of the bank building closed Sept. 10 and immediately set the city's real estate community abuzz, as everyone from brokers to historic preservationists to reporters to Tenderloin activists speculated and investigated who had snapped up the baroque bank, without success.

Naughten said Dolmen "tends to run a low-profile operation."
"It's not that we were trying to deceive anyone," he said. "Normally with any transaction we keep as low a profile as possible. It's just our style."

Designed by Albert Pissis and completed in 1892, the building "is one of the finest of San Francisco's uniquely superb collection of modified temple form banks," according to "Splendid Structures," San Francisco Architectural Heritage's guide to city buildings. The building has a stain-glass domed entrance and steel frame clad in carved granite, but has been frequented by rats, pigeons and crack dealers since it was abandoned in 2000.

Dolmen Property Group has developed mostly small to medium sized condominium projects in the Mission and Noe Valley, as well as an 80,000-square-foot commercial project at 2345 Harrison St. in the South of Market. The group developed the 32-unit Citrino condo development in the Mission District with Vanguard Properties.

The seller, Thomas Lin Yun, was represented by independent broker and developer Stanley Lo.
Naughten said his firm had the building on a short list of potential acquisitions for over two years.

"This is a long-term hold for us, while we do not have any specific plans for the space, except to preserve it. We do have some interested parties, who may ultimately occupy the space," he said.
Naughten said the property was well-positioned to benefit from other developments under way in the Tenderloin and Mid-Market districts, including Urban Realty's 250,000-square-foot CityPlace project near Sixth and Market streets and Trinity Properties' planned 1900 residential units, the first phase of which is now under construction at 8th and Market.

Jerry Burns, who worked with Dolmen on the Harrison Street project, said he used to bank at Hibernia and was glad the group had bought it.

"They always uphold their end of an agreement and they have the financial wherewithal to back up what they proposed to do," said Burns. "Anything they did there would be a significant improvement over what is happening with it now."

Asked what he loved about the Hibernia, Naughten said "the simple answer is, what is not to love?'"

"The architecture is second to none in San Francisco , except maybe City Hall," he said.
He said the fact that the principals of his firm were all born in Ireland was not a factor in trying to save what was once an Irish bank.

"We wouldn't let that get in the way of a deal," he said.

Hibernia Bank sold to Dolman Property Group

Rumor or true?

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2008/10/10/hibernia_bank_buyer_revealed.php

http://dolmenpropertygroup.com/

The Hibernia Bank Building - San Francisco

Ever wonder about the Hibernia Bank Building in San Francisco? Read on!

Various articles

Historic San Francisco Landmark Falling Into Disrepair (BeyondChron, www.beyondchron.com)

by Casey Mills, 2005-03-03

Many consider the Hibernia Bank to be the Tenderloin's greatest monument. The century-old building stands on the corner of McCallister and Jones, its powerful facade and ornate detailing appearing in marked contrast to its graffiti-covered walls and the massive holes riddling its glass roof. Declared an historic landmark by the City of San Francisco, it seems impossible to believe that city officials are letting this century-old building slowly waste away. Yet this is exactly what's happening.

The Hibernia Bank represents a case study in San Francisco's entirely inadequate historic preservation laws. Because the bank is owned privately rather that by the City, there are only minimal requirements put upon the owner to keep the building in shape. And since maintaining historic buildings costs money, the owner is not even concerned with meeting these.

Built in 1892, the bank has gone through a series of hands in the past 25 years. As recently as 1987 the bank remained a bank, serving to add foot traffic and some security to the Tenderloin's historically rough lower Turk area. After sitting vacant for some time, The Police Department took it over as a Task Force Station, which they operated for several years until a new station opened up nearby.

The Hibernia went up for sale, and Thomas Lim of Berkeley snatched it up. His organization, the Chinese Cultural and Philosophical Foundation, claimed it would be turning the bank into a Buddhist Temple. It never happened.

Instead, the building has sat almost completely neglected for the past four years, the only work done on it being putting a chain link fence around its entrance and occasionally scrubbing the graffiti. From the upper stories of a nearby hotel, one can see that vandals have been throwing rocks and bottles onto the glass roof of the building's atrium, putting large holes that leave the marble-lined ceilings and elegant offices inside vulnerable to rain damage.

According to Charles Chase, Executive Director of the historic preservation advocacy group San Francisco Architectural Heritage, the City is largely powerless to stop the owner's negligence.

"Even on buildings that are historic landmarks, there are minimal maintenance standards in San Francisco," said Chase. "As long as the building isn't accessible, we have nothing on the books that would require property owners to maintain a building in a way we would like.we can't even force building inspectors to go take a look at it."

A series of offers have been made on the building, both to purchase and to sell it. The last offer came from a local non-profit, Lawyers for the Arts, to create a space for themselves and other non-profits. Yet all offers have been turned down, in large part due to the inability of prospective buyers or renters to contact the owner, Mr. Lim, who many believe does not live in the country.

A similar situation occurred recently with the Belli building in the Jackson Square Historic District. This historic landmark was slowly deteriorating to the point of complete destruction, and might have been totally lost had it not been for the relentless efforts of Supervisor Aaron Peskin. Peskin, along with community activists, ultimately saved the building.

The fact that it would take the concerted efforts of an elected official in order to simply keep up an historic building at a decent level seems ridiculous. Yet because the City lacks any real laws to prevent this from happening, buildings like the Hibernia bank sink into disrepair. After waiting a number of years, owners can then use the building's poor condition as an excuse to demolish it.

Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of the bank's situation is that it could provide a solid foundation to the revitalization of one of the most neglected parts of the Tenderloin.

"It's an absolutely beautiful space, especially inside," said long-time community activist Brad Paul. "The community could certainly use a bank there, or you could put part of the building to cultural use. It really seems they could find someone to use it - it's such a shame that instead it's just a boarded-up building."

Paul claims that should a prospective owner want to purchase the building, they would be able to obtain historic preservation tax credits that would significantly offset restoration costs. Yet no legal avenue exists to force the current owner to sell the building.

It's time to explore ways to give real teeth to our preservation laws to protect our historic landmarks, no matter who they are owned by. In a city that prides itself on its Victorian homes, its battles against Redevelopment, its Palace of Fine Arts, and so many other issues of historical pride, it's outrageous that private owners can be allowed to slowly demolish important structures through willful neglect.

Every day that goes by, the Hibernia Bank is slowly being destroyed. San Francisco needs find a way to stop this, and fast. The Board of Supervisors must act before another city landmark devolves into dust.

Merchants robbed by old bank (www.sfgate.com)

David Lazarus

Sunday, February 2, 2003

Elvia Santos, owner of the Cafe do Brasil restaurant on Market Street in downtown San Francisco, gazed out the back window of her business.

She swept her eyes over the dozens of street people congregating on the steps of the long-shuttered Hibernia Bank building at the corner of Jones and McAllister. Santos frowned at the bottles being passed around, the drugs being sold in broad daylight.

Inside the restaurant, a faint whiff of the stench emanating from across the street lingered in the air. Only two patrons had shown up at the height of the lunch hour. All the other tables sat empty, their white linen napkins politely folded and untouched.

"It's such a beautiful building," Santos said of the old bank, survivor of the 1906 earthquake and a historical landmark. A man could be seen urinating on the staircase. "Such a shame," Santos said.

The desecration of the Hibernia Bank building, with its stately green dome and ornate marble pillars, shows how a single prominent structure gone to waste can ruin a whole neighborhood.

Converserly, restoration of such a terrible eyesore can revitalize an area long accustomed to scraping by on the fringes of an otherwise dynamic city's prosperity.

"It's bringing down the community," said Carolyn Diamond, executive director of the Market Street Association, a business group. "People don't want to go near there anymore."

As far as landmarks go, all eyes of late have been on the Old Mint on Fifth Street. A mayoral task force finally decided last week to convert the 128-year- old structure into a city museum.

Unlike the Old Mint, though, the Hibernia building is privately owned. Any improvements, and they'll be costly, will come as a result either of the current owners making renovations or the property being sold.

As it stands, neither prospect is anywhere on the horizon, leaving the 111- year-old structure to remain in a state of slow decay. Local merchants, in turn, can only watch with frustration as the building is overrun with street people and pigeons.

"The smell is awful," lamented Ray Keishak, owner of City Limit's Fashions, a Market Street clothing store just around the corner from Hibernia. "I complain to the city all the time. They don't do anything."

Across Market at City Radio, a cell-phone shop facing the Hibernia steps, salesman Ricardo Romero said business has gradually dried up as the number of vagrants congregating at the old bank has steadily increased.

"The people who used to shop here won't come anymore," he said. "They're afraid of being attacked."

The irony is that for almost 10 years, from 1991 to 2000, the Hibernia building served as headquarters for the San Francisco Police Department's Tenderloin Task Force.

Cops came and went all day, patrol cars were a constant presence on the street and, not surprisingly, street people kept their distance. That changed when the task force moved to new digs on Eddy Street, a $4.8 million station house that once housed an auto repair shop.

"When the police were here, the street people were over there," Romero said.

"Now the police are there, so the street people are back here."

For their part, the cops still try to keep a high profile, but the crowd on the Hibernia steps is frequently too much to handle.

"It's hard because this is where everybody gathers," said Officer Jason Sawyer while parked briefly across from the old bank.

The Hibernia building is at the center of some pretty rough company. Across Jones is a check-cashing outlet. On the opposite side of Market is a strip club. At the rear is St. Anthony's Dining Room and a residential hotel.

Hibernia has thus become a magnet for the area's downtrodden and down-and- out, a meeting place and outdoor bazaar of illicit goods and activity.

Things are so tough these days that a nearby McDonald's restaurant at Seventh and Market shut down only a few weeks ago. The windows are now covered and signs gone. Only the red-and-yellow trim along the roof betrays the identity of the site's former occupant.

"I have never seen a McDonald's close," said Santos at Cafe do Brasil. "Can you believe such a thing?"

Local merchants say the burden is squarely on the owners of the Hibernia building to, if not renovate the structure, provide maintenance and security for the site.

However, they can't find the owners. Property records identify the primary owner as Thomas Lin of Berkeley, who apparently purchased the building in the early 1990s and is affiliated with an entity called the Chinese Cultural and Philosophical Foundation.

Merchants say they heard that Lin and other investors once hoped to turn the former bank into a Buddhist temple, but that nothing ever came of the idea.

Lin couldn't be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, the building is said to require millions of dollars in seismic retrofitting and, because of its landmark status, can't be torn down. The structure is rumored to be for sale but, according to commercial real estate sources, the asking price is stratospheric.

Santos tries to remain optimistic. Yes, street people occasionally burst into her restaurant and make off with silverware or the purses of customers. Yes, a painting was stolen from the front entrance. Yes, she has to clean feces from her doorway every morning.

"But I'm a survivor," Santos said. "I do whatever it takes."

It shouldn't be this hard, though.

1892, Union Square, Hibernia Bank Building,

1 Jones St., San Francisco.

Albert Pissis.

The city's oldest Classic Revival style bank had a colonnade splayed to fit the triangular site and articulated like a folded-out Roman temple. The domed rotunda recalls parts of the Paris Opera House, which Pissis surely saw during his student days at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. The interior is also notable (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 11).

The Hibernia Bank, One Jones Street, is yet another delightful and scholarly effort by Albert Pissis. At the time of its construction in 1892, the bank was lauded by Willis Polk and like-minded admirers as the "most beautiful building in the city." The building "clearly declares its purpose and the interior arrangement is plainly expressed by the exterior," Polk wrote. Polk's admiration has not been entirely displaced by time, for the Hibernia, like the Flood, is elegant and powerful (Olmsted and Watkins 1969: 87, 90).

The oldest and one of the finest of San Francisco's uniquely superb collection of modified temple form banks. Also one of the best designs for the numerous irregular Market Street intersections. Built as a narrower structure along Jones in 1892; the building was enlarged to its present size in 1905 and was rebuilt after the fire. It is the earliest surviving building in the city in the strictly classical idiom, a style that did not sweep the country until after the Chicago World's Fair held the year after this bank was completed. The building was widely admired among local architects of the day. In composition, it is a hybrid of a modified temple form and a variety of Baroque elements, notably the domed entrance corner and the fine entrance stairway. Its steel frame is clad in carved granite. Its interior is a richly detailed space dominated by a large stained glass dome. The building occupies its Market Street corner with unusual control. Its columned sides present rich textures to the street. The copper crowned entrance dome provides a focal point which is simultaneously the most massive part of the building and a 2-story open entranceway. A (Corbett 1979: 77).

On this stretch of Market, one of the saddest sights is Albert Pissis and William Moore's beautifully proportioned deserted masterpiece, the Hibernia Bank (7) at the corner of Market, McAllister, and Jones. Pissis and Moore used only the most expensive materials in the building, which has granite exterior walls with an interior of marble, wrought iron, bronze, and mahogany. The building was gutted in 1906, then rebuilt, and became the headquarters of the police chief for a time (Wiley 2000: 194).

The Hibernia Bank [founded by Joseph Tobin], also by Albert Pissis, was regarded in its time as a gem. In his praise of this new structure, architect Willis Polk complimented Pissis "for defying popular taste by not employing every material and known style into one commission." The bank, completed in 1890 at the corner of McAllister and Jones Streets, was the first structure of any kind in the city to follow the Beaux Arts disciplines. Albert Pissis was the first graduate of the Ecole des Beaux Arts to work in San Francisco since Belgian architect Peter Portois came here in the 1850s. Pissis could never have foreseen that his beautiful temple of finance would be used as a Tenderloin police station in the 1990s (Alexander and Heig 2002: 196, 333).

San Francisco Business Times Friday, April 28, 2006

Busted bank

The blighted Hibernia Bank building, built in 1892, is an even more difficult problem than the mint or the armory. The building at Market and Jones streets, which real estate sources say is about to be put on the market, has been long owned by Thomas Lin of Berkeley. He purchased the building in the early 1990s and is affiliated with an entity called the Chinese Cultural and Philosophical Foundation.

Lin, who did not return calls seeking comment, originally wanted to use it as a Buddhist temple. Florence Fang, the former owner of the San Francisco Examiner, wanted to buy it and put the newspaper's operations there. Real estate mogul and former political consultant Clint Reilly also looked at it.

More recently, impresario David Addington, who owns the Warfield Theater nearby, has expressed interest.

The building has been the target of complaints with the Department of Building Inspection. It was cited in March for "lack of maintenance" including broken skylights, and water damage.

from the article: Refurbishing landmarks can be a tough job

Conflicts can lead to gridlock

San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

Guarding the Bank, 1906

We could use a few of these guys guarding the building today!

1906, the city is in ruins, but the Hibernia Bank Building at 1 Jones stands tall, damaged yes, but not destroyed. It will be fully restored within two years.

Guards stand at the ready to defend against looters.

Welcome to Friends of the Hibernia Bank Building

Stay tuned for more!