Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), photographer, inventor, and artist settled in San Francisco in 1866. He soon established a freelance business photographing landscapes of the west, such as Yosemite, and accepting commissions to document the homes and possessions of the wealthy. Later (1872-1882) Muybridge collaborated with Leland Stanford, photographing Stanford’s trotting horses at his farm in Palo...Read More

Sir Norman Foster, acclaimed British architect, and his firm, Foster & Partners, are currently juggling multiple commissions in the Bay area. Foster’s success is due in part to his long-term advocacy for technologically advanced buildings that serve the client, while remaining environmentally sensitive. Foster & Partners has proposed two skyscrapers for San Francisco’s Transbay Project...Read More

How did the Tasmanian Blue Gum Eucalyptus, a tree from Australia, come to dominate the Bay area landscape? The story begins in the 19th century, soon after the gold rush, when thousands of settlers needed wood to build and fuel the city. At that time, settlers were logging oaks and redwood at an alarming rate....Read More

The sandstone buildings of the Quad are noted for their graceful arcades and deep carved reliefs. These arcades were badly damaged in the 1906 and the 1989 earthquakes, but have now been retrofitted and restored.Read More