San Francisco Architecture

By Sally B. Woodbridge, John M. Woodbridge, and Chuck Byrne

Ten Speed Press (2005), $24.95

I judged this book by its cover. The main image on the front of the scintillatingly titled San Francisco Architecture is what one of my fellow SF Weekly writers once called "our municipal lamprey," the SFMOMA building. As a result, I avoided reading the book or even opening it for several weeks. Finally, with the ill temper of reviewers everywhere, I hauled it out from under a pile of camouflaging papers and began to look at its pages. Lo and behold, the adage rang true: I should not have judged San Francisco Architecture by its cover. In fact, a clue to the intelligent insides of this exhaustive guidebook would have been noticeable had I peered more closely at the photo: It shows the MOMA, but also the 1920s-esque apartment structure behind it, a white tower rising prettily over the squatting pile of bricks in the foreground. A comment, perhaps, on the mix of architectural styles that makes our town worth looking at in the first place. Inside, I found hundreds of polished inch-square photos and concise explanations of every interesting site in the city and many in surrounding areas; with corresponding maps, the book is designed to be toted along on walking or driving tours, kind of like one of my bird-watching books. Which brings us to the nerd quotient of this volume: It's high. You need to be very comfortable with your inner doofus to stand on some corner, pointing at a row of houses and excitedly reading aloud, "Exuberant Victorians, showing the transitions from Italianate to Stick-Eastlake and Queen Anne." But try on another old adage if you feel inhibited: Freak freely.