916 Kearny Street

1. 1905

   Built.

2. April 4, 1906

   Beck & Campbell contracted for brick work for the south wall on an eight-storey steel frame class A building to plans by Salfield & Kohlberg.

   The San Francisco Call, 4 April 1906, p. 11
3. 1907

   The Sentinel Building, designed by the firm of Salfield & Kohlberg.

   Architecture, Planning & Preservation Professionals: A Collection of Biographies, adopted 2021
4. 1925

   The Grand Lodge Caballeros de Dimas-Alang, a Filipino mutual aid society founded in San Francisco in 1921 and named for the pen name of José Rizal, was listed here in 1925.

   San Francisco Filipino Heritage: Addendum to the South of Market Historic Context Statement, 2013
5. 1950s

   A Filipino employment agency advertising “competent domestic and industrial help” traded here in the Manilatown of the late 1940s and 1950s.

   San Francisco Filipino Heritage: Addendum to the South of Market Historic Context Statement, 2013
6. 1952

   Opus One operated here between 1952 and 1958, one of the North Beach bars and restaurants the city's survey identifies as significant in San Francisco's LGBTQ history.

   North Beach Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
7. June 18, 1964

   Photographed, showing the Columbus Tower.

   San Francisco Subjects Photograph Collection (SFP 162), San Francisco Public Library
8. 1970

   Listed as San Francisco City Landmark No. 33 — Columbus Tower (Sentinel Building).

   SF Planning, Article 10 landmarks SF Planning, Article 10 landmarks North Beach Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
9. March 12, 1970

   The City Planning Commission adopted a resolution approving designation of the Columbus Tower (Sentinel Building) as a city landmark, for its architecture and for its history as the 'unofficial City Hall' of the early twentieth century.

   San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
10. 1982

    Recorded in the city's 1982 survey of North Beach, adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 1999, as an individually listed resource. San Francisco City Landmark No. 33.

    North Beach Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
11. Feb 1984

    Permit 8401639 $$$ $2,500

    Sign - erect.

12. Feb 1984

    Permit 8402011 $$$ $11,000

    Alteration on ground floor.

13. Oct 1989

    Filing Permit 8920004 $$$ $70,000

    Temp. shoring for existing subwalk slab and framing.

14. Mar 1993

    Permit 9304391 $$$ $2,750

    Refer app 9216750/add'l work consist demolition/replace drywall.

15. Jul 1996

    Permit 9611784 $$$ $9,900

    Add a new masonry fireplace in penthouse residence.

16. Oct 1998

    Permit 9819908 $$$ $5,000

    Soft demolition for const refer to appln #9818231.

17. Oct 2010

    Permit 201010062426 $$$ $5,000

    Replace 4 metal studds (18ga) @ 16", 5/8 sheetrock on both sides, paneling. replace in kind. no structural changes.

18. Oct 2020

    Permit 202010287663 $$$ $18,460

    Rev 1 ahj comments - voluntary replacement of existing fire system.

19. Jun 2022

    Issued Permit 202206297357 $$$ $2,000,000

    Conversion of floors 3-6 from offie to tourist hotel rooms per pc motion 20773. restore basement path of travel; cosmetic changes to lobby; no exterior work building will operate as single tenant; existing dwelling unit to remain. mep deferred.

20. Mar 2023

    Permit 202303153696 $$$ $1

    This drawing set is only an-built set after the installation. three additiona; existing heat detectors were discovered during installation process. this as-built is to show the correct quantities of heat detectors and other changes in the field. ref. permit application 2020-1028-7663.

21. Apr 2025

    Permit 202504114208 $$$ $23,100

    Level 3 - level 6: extend fire sprinkler coverage to new hotel guestrooms per 2016 nfpa-13 to make floors fully sprinklered. existing sprinkler system only coveraged egress & hallways on each floor. reference gc permit application 202206297357. total 42 sprinkler heads.

22. Nov 2025

    Filed Permit 202511109288 $$$ $27,000

    3/fl-6/fl: alteration to existing fire alarm system due to permit ti to convert floor 3-6 from (b) occupancy to r-1 occupancy. no work on the basement level 1/f or 8/f. ref 202504114208.

23. Dec 2025

    Issued Permit 202512091311 $$$ $1

    Revision to 202206297357: suite 1's shower & suite 3's shower converted to tub at 4th/f only.

24. Jan 2026

    Issued Permit 202601294793 $$$ $1

    Rev to permit application 2022-0629-7357: spec revision of fan coil units (ceiling casettes instead of wall casettes) spec revision of bath exhaust. use of existing 2 hr shaft in suite 3 wih fire dumpers.

DBI holds 29 permits for this parcel, most of them tenant improvements on individual floors. The timeline shows the 24 largest by stated cost, plus the earliest on file; the DBI query in the sources below returns all 29. 10 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. A citywide context statement places the Sentinel Building at 935–951 Kearny Street, across the street; the city's landmark list and survey put Landmark No. 33 on this parcel at 916–920 Kearny.