When Timothy Pflueger’s radical design was revealed on Union Sq in 1948, SF society was shocked: San Francisco’s flagship clothing store appeared completely naked. Stripped of deco adornment, Pflueger’s avant-garde white-marble plinth caused consternation – until Christian Dior himself pronounced it ‘magnifique.’ Today it’s a collection of luxury boutiques with new interiors. Pflueger’s daring building remains Union Sq’s most timeless fashion statement, and was his final work before his untimely death of a heart attack at 54.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Union Square

0.06 MILES

High-end stores ring Union Sq now, but this people-watching plaza has been a hotbed of protest, from pro-Union Civil War rallies to AIDS vigils. Atop the…

2. Frank Lloyd Wright Building

0.07 MILES

Shrink the Guggenheim, plop it inside a yellow-brick box with a round Romanesque entryway and put it where you'd least expect it: on a shady SF alley that…

3. Ruth Asawa's San Francisco Fountain

0.09 MILES

Covered in local landmarks and colorful SF characters – burlesque icon Carol Doda, psychedelic rockers Jefferson Airplane, protesters declaring themselves…

4. 450 Sutter St

0.15 MILES

A 26-story deco dental building fit for the gods, this 1929 Mayan-revival stone skyscraper has a lobby covered floor to ceiling with cast-bronze snakes…

5. 49 Geary

0.15 MILES

Pity the collectors silently nibbling endive in austere Chelsea galleries – at 49 Geary, First Thursday art openings mean unexpected art, popcorn and…

6. Contemporary Jewish Museum

0.17 MILES

That upended blue-steel box miraculously balancing on one corner atop the Contemporary Jewish Museum is appropriate for an institution that upends…

7. James Flood Building

0.19 MILES

This 1904 stone building survived the 1906 earthquake and retains its original character, notwithstanding the Gap flagship downstairs. Upstairs,…

8. Lotta's Fountain

0.19 MILES

Lotta Crabtree made fortunes as San Francisco's diminutive opera diva, and she never forgot the city that paid for her trademark cigars. In 1875 she…