37.7887, −122.4030 A locator map appears here once a Mapbox token is configured.
Know This Place

District 3 · Block 0311, Lot 013 · ZIP 94104

57–65 Post Street

Office building

  • The Mechanics Institute
  • 9 stories
  • 59,751 ft2
  • 6,991 ft2 lot area
  • 3 residential units
  • 112 rooms
  • Zoned C-3-O
  • Historic resource
  • City landmark
37.7887, −122.4030 Street View appears here once a Google Maps embed key is configured.
  1. December 1854

    Mechanics' Institute founded

    The Mechanics' Institute was founded in the slump that followed the fall in gold production, to give under-employed miners, artisans and tradespeople somewhere to learn and meet.

    Taryn Edwards, “Before the Midwinter Fair: The Mechanics' Institute's ‘Pacific Rim' Industrial Exhibitions of 1869 and 1871,” The Argonaut: Journal of the San Francisco Historical Society, vol. 30, no. 1 (Summer 2019), pp. 8–23
  2. 1866

    Post Street lot bought

    The Mechanics' Institute bought the lot it still occupies on Post Street.

    Taryn Edwards, “Before the Midwinter Fair: The Mechanics' Institute's ‘Pacific Rim' Industrial Exhibitions of 1869 and 1871,” The Argonaut: Journal of the San Francisco Historical Society, vol. 30, no. 1 (Summer 2019), pp. 8–23
  3. 1909

    Built.

  4. 1909

    The Mechanics Institute, designed by architect Albert Pissis.

    Architecture, Planning & Preservation Professionals: A Collection of Biographies, adopted 2021
  5. April 14, 1909

    Lewis A. Hicks contracted to put up a nine-storey and basement building for the Mechanics' Institute.

    The San Francisco Call, 14 April 1909, p. 15
  6. December 24, 1910

    Babson Brothers, the Chicago mail-order house, leased the whole ground floor and basement of the Mechanics' Institute Building for a retail branch selling musical instruments.

    The San Francisco Call, 24 December 1910, p. 9
  7. 1981

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 134, Mechanics' Institute.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
  8. Jul 2004
    Permit 200407229495 $$$ $175,000

    Life-safety work on all floors.

  9. Sep 2011
    Permit 201109225299 $$$ $32,000

    Barrier removal — an accessible countertop added at the library checkout desk on the second floor.

  10. May 2016
    Permit 201605056614 $$$ $86,400

    Change of use from bank to bar at 65 Post Street — the commercial tenant space remodelled and its bathrooms made accessible.

  11. Jun 2019
    Permit 201906214147 $$$ $100,000

    Drywall around the windows repaired and replaced after water damage, with baseboards and carpet renewed in the affected areas.

  12. Sep 2021
    Issued Permit 202109108120 $$$ $750,000

    In-kind masonry repairs to the east elevation — loose material removed from scaffolding, deteriorated plaster parge coat, loose brick tie-backs and lintels repaired in kind, and the windows painted in place.

  13. Sep 2025
    Permit 202509034426 $$$ $12,000

    Re-roofing, with hot works.

  14. Jul 2026
    Filed Permit 202607155065 $$$ $1,880,000

    Second and third floors — individual study rooms built out on the third floor, finishes updated, walls and ceilings repainted, floors carpeted, woodwork stained, light fittings and casework replaced, and cooling added to the third-floor IT closet.

Seven of the 104 filings on this parcel are shown; the rest are sign and street-space permits, revisions to the permits above, and the duplicates DBI files under 57, 61 and 65 Post Street. Business addresses are usually deferred on this site; this page exists because the address was named in the prompting source. The parcel spans 57, 61 and 65 Post Street, and DBI files permits under all three numbers.

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