999 California Street

1. 1875

   A granite retaining wall was built round the lot to hold the grade for the Mark Hopkins mansion; it still surrounds the hotel's site.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
2. June 11, 1910

   The San Francisco Art Association contracted with the Kittle Construction Company for $10,583 of alterations to the one-storey and basement reinforced concrete building it then had on the corner.

   The San Francisco Call, 11 June 1910, p. 11
3. 1925

   Its lifts were supplied by the Otis Elevator Company and assembled at the company's plant at 1 Beach Street.

   National Register of Historic Places nomination, National Park Service
4. 1925–1926

   Built to designs by Charles Peter Weeks and William P. Day (Weeks & Day): an eighteen-storey steel-framed hotel encased in concrete, faced in brick with terra-cotta trim and crowned with Berkeley tile, Spanish Renaissance with a French touch, its entrance on a triangular plaza on the crest of Nob Hill, on the site of the Mark Hopkins mansion, later the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art, lost in 1906.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
5. 1926

   Built.

6. 1939

   The top-floor penthouse was converted into the glass-walled Top of the Mark lounge, designed by Timothy Pflueger's office. In the Second World War servicemen bound for the Pacific spent a last liberty there, and the northwest corner, where those left behind watched the ships pass the Golden Gate, was called "Weeper's Corner".

   SF Planning, landmark designation
7. 1940s

   The Top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, especially busy during the Second World War.

   Donna J. Graves and Shayne E. Watson, Citywide Historic Context Statement for LGBTQ History in San Francisco, San Francisco Planning Department, adopted by the Historic Preservation Commission November 18, 2015
8. 1940

   The "Top of the Mark" lounge at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, 1940, by Timothy Pflueger; since altered.

   Modern Architecture and Landscape Design Context Statement, adopted 2011
9. 1945

   The hotel was a meeting place in the founding of the United Nations and the charter meetings that followed.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
10. March 23, 1961

    A plaque marking the site as California Registered Historical Landmark No. 754 was dedicated.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
11. Jun 1982

    Permit 8205297 $$$ $60,000

    Building use: hotel.

12. Aug 1983

    Permit 8307981 $$$ $250,000

    Demolition work non-structural-remove miscellaneous.

13. May 1986

    Permit 8606224 $$$ $3,500,000

    Remodel guest rooms.

14. 1987

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 184, Mark Hopkins Hotel.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
15. Feb 1988

    Permit 8801849 $$$ $400,000

    Remodel guestrooms suites on the 18th floor.

16. Jun 1999

    Permit 9912495 $$$ $7,000,000

    One-stop, remodel guestrm, corridors, incl non-bearing walls.

17. Jul 1999

    Permit 9915483 $$$ $540,700

    Complete life safety system.

18. Jul 1999

    Permit 9915525 $$$ $250,000

    One-stop remodel rooms mezzanine level, mechanical and sprinklers.

19. Aug 1999

    Permit 9915910 $$$ $403,700

    Fire sprinkler t.i. floors.#2 thru #18 and floor#20.

20. Aug 2000

    Permit 200008238667 $$$ $500,000

    New emergency generator.

21. Nov 2000

    Issued Permit M14961 $$$ $2,748,932

    Street space.

22. Jun 2001

    Permit 200106262391 $$$ $2,225,000

    Renovate arcade level, restaurant, kitchen alteration 16th floor roof.

23. May 2002

    Issued Permit 200205035704 $$$ $435,000

    Stair enclosure on stairs, voluntary upgrade, enclose stairs, 1, 2, 3 & 4.

24. Jun 2002

    Permit 200206219629 $$$ $1,750,000

    Exterior facade upgrade.

25. Aug 2002

    Permit 200208083484 $$$ $208,000

    6 lvl-fire sprinkler improvements: b3 parking/annex level, b2parking/office, b1 food service, grnd lob.

26. Aug 2002

    Permit 200208264923 $$$ $403,700

    Renew 9915910 for automatic sprinkler for final inspection only.

27. May 2004

    Permit 200405285129 $$$ $5,000

    Relocation of fan coils and exhaust fans from stairs 1 and 4 to comply within bid nov #200118542.

28. Feb 2015

    Issued Permit 201502027270 $$$ $375,400

    Replace guestroom entry doors & service doors on 2 to 18th floors. modify one bathroom on one room. n/a maher ordinance.

29. Mar 2022

    Permit 202203049207 $$$ $217,130

    Reroofing: less than 50% tear off existing, system down to deck. install 1.5 iso secured with low rise foam adhesive. 1/2" board with low rise foam 60 mil tpo adhere to prepared surface. color white, sq ft 6559.

DBI holds 127 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 127. 4 of them are nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits. 7 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. The building is dated 1875 in its landmark designation; the assessor's roll gives 1926. The Top of the Mark lounge is dated 1940 in the city's Modern Architecture context statement and 1939 in the hotel's landmark designation report.