140 Maiden Lane

1. 1909

   Built.

2. 1911

   Built in 1911 to designs by the architects and engineers J.E. Krafft & Sons: two shops with plate-glass windows below a skylit storage loft.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
3. 1937

   Remodeled in 1937 by Williams & Grimes into a single shop behind a terra-cotta bulkhead.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
4. c. 1937

   Vere C. and Lillian Morris moved their tableware and antiques shop here from Sutter Street, taking over from a restaurant; they ran it until about 1955 and commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright's remodel.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
5. not before 1948

   Photographed.

   San Francisco Subjects Photograph Collection (SFP 162), San Francisco Public Library
6. 1948

   Frank Lloyd Wright's only building in San Francisco, designed 1948 as the V.C. Morris gift shop; a brick-clad retail storefront whose arched doorway echoes Richardsonian Romanesque precedent. Designated City Landmark No. 72 in 1975, at the age of 26.

   Modern Architecture and Landscape Design Context Statement, adopted 2011
7. 1949

   Frank Lloyd Wright's remodel of 1948-49 for the V. C. Morris Gift Shop, which set itself deliberately against the open-front storefronts of its day: a closed front, with the display kept for those who came inside.

   Neighborhood Commercial Buildings Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
8. 1960

   The silversmith Allan Adler bought the shop in 1960 and kept the V. C. Morris name over the door.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
9. 1968

   The Edward Marshall Boehm Gallery moved in.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
10. December 5, 1974

    The City Planning Commission unanimously designated the V.C. Morris Building at 140 Maiden Lane a landmark over the owner's objection, deleting from the designation the common west wall that stands on the adjacent 251 Post Street lot (Resolution 7274).

    San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
11. February 5, 1975

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 72, V. C. Morris Building, by Ordinance No. 22-75.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
12. by 1979

    A women's clothing shop that had moved in by 1979 took out many of Wright's movable fixtures, recording where each had stood on blueprints; some have never been found.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
13. Jul 1985

    Permit 8507849 $$$ $75,000

    Replace existing roofing, skylights and exhaust fans.

14. Jul 1997

    Permit 9712984 $$$ $1

    Renewal per app#9706284.

15. 1998

    Interior renovation by architect Aaron Green.

    Architecture, Planning & Preservation Professionals: A Collection of Biographies, adopted 2021
16. 2002

    Seismic retrofit completed, stabilising the brick facade.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
17. Jan 2002

    Permit 200201227411 $$$ $300,000

    Umb-upgrade of historic landmark building.

18. 2016

    The designation was amended by Ordinance No. 223-16 to take in the interior: the spiral ramp, the ceiling of acrylic domes, the built-in mahogany cabinetwork and the brass hanging planter.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
19. Oct 2016

    Permit 201610140344 $$$ $25,000

    New finishes for floor & paint on walls. replacement of some non-historic lighting fixtures with led. existing structure & historic elements to remain.

20. Oct 2016

    Permit 201610140350 $$$ $10,000

    Erect non-electric, wall, single-faced, non-illuminated, new sign.

21. Oct 2016

    Permit 201610140352 $$$ $10,000

    Erect non-electric, projecting, double-faced, non-illuminated, replacement sign.

22. May 2017

    Permit 201705257702 $$$ $40,000

    Replacement of existing mechanical unit, in kind no other work.

23. Jul 2017

    Permit 201707111506 $$$ $5,100

    Replace (10) pendent fire sprinklers. no under gorund work. ref permit application 201705257702.

24. Jul 2017

    Permit 201707252848 $$$ $5,000

    Revision 201610140344 changes include various lighting, finishes, fixtures.

25. Jul 2017

    Issued Permit 201707252849 $$$ $1

    Addition of 1 graphic on approved banner sign 201610140352.

26. Jan 2018

    Issued Permit 201801108306 $$$ $900

    Voluntary replace panel change communication from pots line to cellular.

27. Mar 2025

    Permit 202503061711 $$$ $9,500

    Remove anchors. patch anchor holes with compatible mortar to match existing surround (ie jahn patching mortar for brick in color ptc207).

28. Apr 2025

    Issued Permit 202504083932 $$$ $4,000

    Install non-illuminated projecting double faced banner onto existing brackets.

29. Jun 2026

    Issued Permit 202606113024 $$$ $1

    To obtain final inspection for work approved under permit application 202504083932. all work is complete.

30. Aug 2026

    Issued Permit 202608267197 $$$ $6,000

    Revision to permit application 202504083932: patch 5 anchor holes in brick facade.

2 nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits are omitted from the timeline. 5 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. The statement dates the remodel to 1949 in the figure caption and to 1948 in the storefront-systems chapter. The building is dated 1911 in its landmark designation, from its building-permit application; the assessor's roll gives 1909.