Veterans Building
301–401 Van Ness Avenue
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1900
Built.
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1931
Veterans Building, designed by John Bakewell Jr. and Arthur Brown Jr.
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1932
War Memorial Opera House, designed by Arthur Brown Jr.
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1932
The War Memorial Complex, designed by G. Albert Lansburgh.
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June 26, 1945
The Charter of the United Nations, drafted in the Veterans Building during the conference that had met since 25 April, was signed in its auditorium — later the Herbst Theater — in an eight-hour ceremony.
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September 8, 1951
Representatives of 49 nations signed a general peace treaty with Japan in the War Memorial Opera House, restoring Japanese sovereignty after the Second World War; the treaties had been drawn up in the Veterans Building alongside.
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August 8, 1974
The War Memorial Opera House, with 3,200 seats, was used almost to capacity and exclusively by the Opera, Symphony and Ballet; that season's 211 performances and 147 rehearsals took all available time.
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December 5, 1974
The City Planning Commission unanimously designated the San Francisco War Memorial complex a landmark, acknowledging the War Memorial Trustees' charter jurisdiction and recommending against review of alterations to its major interior public spaces (Resolution 7273).
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May 8, 1975
The Franklin Street side of the War Memorial Opera House was a parking lot of about 20 spaces; scenery storage there had been part of the original plan but was left unbuilt for lack of money, and scenery was trucked to a warehouse on Indiana Street.
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May 29, 1975
The City Planning Commission unanimously found in conformity with the Master Plan a four-level, 55-by-140-foot addition on the Franklin Street side of the War Memorial Opera House for a season's scenery, rehearsal rooms, offices and dressing rooms, matched to the cornice and stonework, replacing 28 parking spaces.
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1977
Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 84, War Memorial Complex.
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1978
The War Memorial Opera House, where a memorial service for Harvey Milk was held in November 1978; the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus sang here in San Francisco Opera performances in 1988.
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1984
The War Memorial Veterans Building, administered since 1921 by a trust for the benefit of the city's veterans and the base of the city's American Legion posts; the Alexander Hamilton Post 448, the only gay and lesbian post affiliated with the American Legion, was founded in 1984 and listed its office and monthly meetings here. A designated San Francisco landmark (No. 84).
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Dec 1994
Seismic upgrade and repairs.
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Sep 2001
Plaster crack in 4 stairwells & 1 corridor.2nd fl-green room, disabled access ramp, painting &retrof.
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Dec 2001
2 built up acoustically lined air handlers/modifying distripbution piping and e historic materials.
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Dec 2003
Renovate sevice elevator&install new equip.new catuales on upper grid level for access to mach room.
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Jun 2007
Comply with nov 2007 07226: demolishing existing non-bearing partition, constructing new non-bearing partition and expanding control room on the 5th floor; constructing mechanical enclosure on the 6th floor; and altering ceiling and lighting as needed to accommodate these changes.
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Apr 2012
Seismic strenthening of building, improvements to buildings mepf systems, ada upgrades & tenant improvements.
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Dec 2013
Tenant improvement for the educaiton, studio, performance hall, administrative offices, costumeshop & support spaces on the 4th fl as well as storage & costume support in the basement. n/a for maher ordinance.
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Feb 2014
Ref. #201204269224 install new overhead fire sprinkler system, new standpipe and 5'0 (stub out) underground. 4th floor portion seperate permit underground permit application 201403049826. maher-compliance with ordinance no. 155-13. not required.
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Jun 2014
Construction of new memorial and fountain commemcrating california veteran's.
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Jun 2014
Ada upgrades at site path of travel, site drainageimprovements & electrical improvements.
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Aug 2014
New fire alarm system includes: 1 fire alarm panel, 2 first vision interative firefighter's displas, 4 fire alarm control cabinets (hppf-8cm + daa-5070, 3-anninciators, 11 dual monitor modules, 2 dual racay/monitor mobules, 36 delay modules, 3 control modules, 7 monitor mobules, 77-ducg detectors.
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Dec 2014
Sprinkler ti: add 560 headssprinkler heads in the basement including paint booth and exhaust duct in the unsprinklered rooms of the 4th floor. ref appln #201312234851- orginal permit for sprinklers 201402037656- building will eb fully sprinkler protected.
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May 2015
Installation of (1)kohler 400 reorzj 60 hz vl 2200 diesel generator, (1)460 gallon diesel storage tank in basement of the war memorial veteran's building. generator serves emergency power for the veteran's building & opera house. fuel oil permit under permit application 2015/02/24/9203.
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Jul 2015
Replace upper balcony fixed seating furniture- replace and add egress lighting; maher n/a.
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Jun 2018
Office ti 2 e suites on the 3rd fl war memorial veterans building. total 7525 gross sq ft suite 313 2940 sq ft add sidelites, build 3 interior walls new paint new carpet in 2 offices. suite 310 4585 sq ft new fl finish, new offices, storage rooms, podcast room, storage closed meeting rm per plan.
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Apr 2025
Modernization of passenger traction elevators #6 and #7 and related mechanical and electrical upgrades. fire sprinker and fire alarm to be modfiifed as required by sffd project to provide accessible path of travel from storage entry door to evleator #2.
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Jun 2025
Metal roofing reroofing of the historic war memorial opera house building and alternate scope of installing fall protection system with roof access ladders. no hotworks without sffd operating permit.
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Oct 2025
Remove and replace existing air cooled chillers (roof).
DBI holds 108 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 108. 11 of them are nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits. 7 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. This address is recorded as built 1932; the assessor's roll gives 1900, the year it files most of the city's nineteenth-century buildings under.
Nearby
- 214 Van Ness Avenue Same street
- 505 Van Ness Avenue Same street
- 165 Grove Street Around the corner