High-Rise City Killers

High-rise buildings are a key part of the image of the modern city. In cities like New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai they soar to great heights. In others, like Washington or Rome, their height is limited. Regardless of these differences, their impact on the human environment in the urban setting is considerable. The skyscraperpage website is worth investigating by high-rise enthusiasts interested in skyscrapers worldwide.

High-rises are not always benign in their affect on the city. Rather than heightening the urban environment, where thoughtlessly located or poorly designed they can destroy the urban fabric that their advocates aver they personify. The examples below illustrate some of these "high-rise city killers". In at least the first case, the ultimate impact on the city has been beneficial.

Fontana Towers

This view from the slopes of Russian Hill encompasses a panorama from the Golden Gate to Tiburon on the Marin Peninsula. Two towers block the view across the Bay in the right third of the image.

This view is taken at the corner of Francisco Street further down Russian Hill. The two 17-story towers are now almost a complete wall blocking the view across the Bay from residents on the hill.

The residents of Russian Hill are not without wealth and influence. They saw the construction of these towers as the proverbial middle finger raised high. They were determined to assure that developers would never again be allowed to raise such high rise walls to block their views, and sully the traditional neighborhoods astride San Francisco's hills.

The towers, built in 1965, at the time of city approval generated a popular revolt against the "Manhattanization" of San Francisco. In 1961, the planning commission placed a 40-foot height limit on the waterfront after a public uproar over the approval of these towers next to Aquatic Park. Decades of strife over building height followed.

The outcry against high-rises eventually led to the adoption of the San Francisco Master Plan, whose urban design component restricted heights throughout the city. In the early 1970s the city enacted a 40 foot height limit in all neighborhoods, except for 11 "highrise zones" that could have buildings up to 300 feet. The Board of Supervisors voted in 1978 to set a 40-foot limit on all buildings in residential areas, which could be altered only under special review, possibly saving San Francisco from becoming a city of high-density apartment towers.

In recent years, high-rises have lost their status as political lightning rods. As stated by Allan Jacobs, "What they're proposing in the way of towers [in the South of Market Street area] are pretty good -- thin and really well-spaced, with lower buildings in-between." New towers in the 40-story range near Yerba Buena Gardens have risen without protest, and when a relatively slender 600-foot tower was approved in July 2003 on Mission St., several planning commissioners made a point of complimenting the design.

Ironically, the towers seen as city killers in the 1960s may have ultimately led to the creation of a more liveable San Francisco in the 21st Century. Needless to say, the effect was totally unintentional.

Parking All About


This high-rise is located in a city adjacent to San Jose. The left image is taken from the corner of the parking lot next to the main street - the upper right corner of the right image. The right image is from Google Earth.

The buildings are of a decent design, but their location, with the surface parking virtually on all sides, does little to improve the urban environment. The valuable setting of the adjoining creek and main road was practically ignored and the chance to give the complex a presence in the community was lost. Most people driving by on the road or strolling or biking the pathway along the creek are hardly aware these buildings exist. Just moving the two building grouping to the upper right corner of the property would have improved the view for persons passing on the main street above and made a more inviting sidewalk. Such a move would also have given a more definitive boundary to the natural area along the stream.

Florida Waterfront


This Florida condominium overlooks the intercoastal waterway. The blue awnings identify the development in both the street and Google Earth image. A church is on the adjoining property to the left of the first image.

The condo high-rise is on the waterway side of a barrier beach. The building is a mile from high-rises on the oceanside. It is fenced off from the intercoastal waterway which it adjoins. Remaining original homes lining the street and the waterway are well-built detached residences sitting on a sandy rise (former dune?) parallel to and about 10 feet above the street.

The condo developers removed the sandy rise and sloped the street front parking toward the building. Hurricane induced floods could pour out of the street through the parking lot and the first floors of the high-rise. The management discourages walking from the complex by placing a wall along the entire frontage with no pedestrian opening other than the driveway and a one foot break at the other end of the wall. There was no attempt to design the building to fit in with its surroundings. Instead the goal seemed to be to create on cheaper land a building appearance similar to oceanside condos.