{"id":20057,"date":"2018-12-18T15:49:09","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T12:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/?p=20057"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:25:12","slug":"office-building-week-transamerica-pyramid-center-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/office-building-week-transamerica-pyramid-center-san-francisco\/","title":{"rendered":"Office Building of The Week: Transamerica Pyramid Center \u2013 San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Transamerica<\/a>

Transamerica Pyramid Center, 600 Montgomery Street, Financial District, San Francisco, CA<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\"transamerica<\/a><\/p>\n

San Francisco is a city known for its eclectic mix of Victorian and modern day architecture including Chinatown, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, Alamo Square, and the iconic Transamerica Pyramid<\/a>. According to designer and architect William Pereira, the futuristic pyramid-shape of the sparkling white, quartz-covered skyscraper was chosen to maximize the amount of light and air filtering down to the adjacent streets.<\/p>\n

\"Transamerica<\/a>

Transamerica Pyramid Center, 600 Montgomery Street<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Located in the San Francisco Financial District – Barbary Coast<\/a> office submarket, the unique design of the Transamerica Pyramid also allowed Pereira to adhere to the strict building laws in San Francisco and erect a skyscraper much taller than conventional design would have allowed. When it was constructed, the Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest office building in San Francisco, surpassing the height of the former Bank of America Center on 555 California Street<\/a> by 74 feet. It wasn\u2019t until 2017 that the 1,070-foot-tall Salesforce Tower<\/a> overtook the Transamerica Pyramid Center to become the tallest office building in San Francisco<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Similar to the Chrysler Building<\/a> in Midtown Manhattan<\/a>, the Transamerica Pyramid had more than its share of critics while being constructed. Pundits proclaimed the building\u2019s pyramid shape as an unfit match for San Francisco architecture. The \u2018shaft-like\u2019 design of the Pyramid was ridiculed, while other detractors noted that the pyramid shape is inefficient in terms of space, as it yields a low percentage of usable floor space and very small upper floors.<\/p>\n

\"Transamerica<\/a>

Transamerica Pyramid Center, 600 Montgomery Street<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Over the years, the Transamerica Pyramid Center has conquered its critics and won the hearts and minds of San Franciscans from one end of the Bay to the other. The San Francisco Chronicle<\/em> has described the Pyramid as, \u201cAn architectural icon of the best sort . . . A uniquely memorable building,\u201d and a presence and persona that is an engaging combination of triumph, the unexpected, and the unreal.<\/p>\n

Sitting at the northern end of the Financial District, the Transamerica Pyramid \u2013 along with the 505 Sansome office building<\/a> \u2013 occupies an entire city block in one of the most valuable commercial real estate markets in the world. Today the 500,000 square-foot floor space in the Transamerica Pyramid Center is home to prestigious businesses such as ATEL Capital Group, Rembrandt Venture Partners, Incapture, and Heller Manus Architects.<\/p>\n

Despite being built nearly 50 years ago, extensive updating of the Transamerica Pyramid has earned the building a LEED Platinum rating. In fact, of the 111,146 projects listed on the U.S. Green Building Council<\/a> website less than 6% have been awarded the highly sought-after Platinum classification.<\/p>\n

This icon in the San Francisco office market<\/a> is unique in many other ways as well:<\/p>\n