37.7896, −122.4048 A locator map appears here once a Mapbox token is configured.
Know This Place

District 3 · Block 0293, Lot 009 · ZIP 94108

255–271 Sutter Street

Store building · Financial District

  • 5 stories
  • 241,918 ft2
  • 37,810 ft2 lot area
  • 20 rooms
  • 11 bathrooms
  • Zoned C3R
  • Historic resource
Land$6,953,347
Improvements$2,853,891
Total assessed$9,807,238
37.7896, −122.4048 Street View appears here once a Google Maps embed key is configured.
  1. 1908

    Built.

  2. 1908

    The White House department store, designed by architect Albert Pissis.

    Architecture, Planning & Preservation Professionals: A Collection of Biographies, adopted 2021
  3. April 7, 1908

    M. V. Brady contracted for brick and terra cotta on a building.

    The San Francisco Call, 7 April 1908, p. 15
  4. November 7, 1968

    The White House building, a former department store, stood mostly vacant while being converted to individual shops on the ground floor with a 400-car public garage, authorized the year before, on the upper floors. The City Planning Commission disapproved converting the basement of the White House building into a private garage for about eighty cars reached from Robert Kirk Lane, citing alley and downtown traffic congestion.

    San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
  5. 1979

    The Foundation for San Francisco's Architectural Heritage rated The White House "A" in the 1979 downtown survey it published as Splendid Survivors — the top of its four grades, which it reserved for the buildings it judged individually most important downtown. The Department of City Planning's 1976 Architectural Inventory rated it "4" on a scale running from 0 to 5. Buildings rated A or B by the Foundation, or 3 or above by the city survey, went onto the List of Architecturally and/or Historically Significant Buildings in the Downtown, adopted by the City Planning Commission on 29 May 1980 in Resolution No. 8600.

    222 Kearny Street DEIR, SF Dept. of City Planning, 1983
  6. Sep 1991
    Permit 9116663 $$$ $350,000

    Alteration of vance retail space.

  7. Sep 1993
    Permit 9316105 $$$ $70,000

    Add store room to basement area.

  8. Sep 1993
    Permit 9316913 $$$ $60,000

    Add new cooling tower.

  9. Jan 1997
    Permit 9701061 $$$ $2,500,000

    Expand store to entire 1st fl. exterior rehab & basement wrk.

  10. Mar 1997
    Permit 9705235 $$$ $75,000

    Interior demolition for hazardous materials, asbestos removal.

  11. Jul 1997
    Permit 9712573 $$$ $63,000

    Alteration of existing fire sprinklers.

  12. Aug 1997
    Permit 9715083 $$$ $90,000

    Changes to permit under construction numbers9701061/9711361.

  13. Dec 1998
    Permit 9826138 $$$ $90,000

    Add another set of stairs for display circulation purposes.

  14. Jun 1999
    Permit 9910905 $$$ $40,000

    Demolition in basement for future retail, mechanical removal.

  15. Aug 1999
    Permit 9917570 $$$ $72,000

    Tenant improvement basement 1st floor.

  16. Nov 1999
    Permit 9923288 $$$ $1,200,000

    Tenant build out at lower level & improvements on 1st floor.

  17. Apr 2000
    Permit 200004046320 $$$ $500

    Fire sprinkler system.

  18. Mar 2007
    Permit 200703156339 $$$ $60,000

    Change approx. 1700 existing fiore sprinklers with like kind new sprinkler heads. existing heads 5-6 k factor 1/2 orifice fused type. new heads 5-6- k factor 1/2 orifice fused type all floors. work is limited to garage sprinkler system.

  19. Jun 2010
    Withdrawn Permit 201006184865 $$$ $65,000

    Banana republic. infill existing sales area arched openings to close off portions of store. install curtains at existing small openings to close off portions of the store. install recessed standards and feature wall shelving at infill walls.

  20. Jul 2015
    Withdrawn Permit 201507212013 $$$ $563,079

    Minor interior modifications and refresh. replacement of select water source heat pumps.

  21. Aug 2015
    Permit 201508144275 $$$ $60,000

    Minor interior modifications on 1st and basement.

  22. Oct 2015
    Issued Permit 201510220534 $$$ $609,400

    Basement & 1st floor: replace select water source heat pumps.

  23. Jan 2016
    Permit 201601116738 $$$ $300,000

    Ste a - interior remodeling, build-out of merchantile/interior space contained within existing shell of building.

  24. Jun 2016
    Issued Permit 201606089365 $$$ $492,300

    Reroofing.

  25. Jul 2016
    Issued Permit 201607081851 $$$ $80,000

    Revision to 201510220534. add 1 water sourced heat pump.

  26. Mar 2024
    Permit 202403046976 $$$ $1,200,000

    Facade rehabilitation. terra cotta repair, including patching and repointing. wood window and metal decoring painting. concrete parapet repair.

DBI holds 76 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 76. 3 of them are nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits. 4 expired or cancelled permits are not shown.

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