Film, Video Exploded gas tanks, U.S. Mint, Emporium and Spreckels Bld'g Exploded gas tanks, U.S. Mint, Emporium and Spreckels Building

Title

• Exploded gas tanks, U.S. Mint, Emporium and Spreckels Bld'g

Other Title

• Exploded gas tanks, U.S. Mint, Emporium and Spreckels Building

Summary

• The camera, placed on the east side of 4th Street near Natoma Street, one and two-thirds blocks south of Market Street, pans a full 240 degrees, from southwest to southeast. The pan begins in the southwest, viewing two 550,000 cubic foot, 45' diameter frames of gas tanks of the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company at 5th and Folsom streets. The dome of the ruined City Hall is seen in the background at left, behind the ruined wall. [0:51 min.] The 1873 U.S. Mint is visible in the distance at 5th and Mission streets, a classical facade with two large smokestacks at the rear. The building is now a museum. [0:56] The camera views the impressive ruins of the Emporium Department Store facing Market Street. A couple in the foreground walk up 4th Street. [1:13 min.] The Flood Building is seen behind the Emporium across Market Street at Powell Street. [1:21] We look up 4th Street to see the St. Francis Hotel, at Powell and Geary streets. Its adjacent unfinished north wing was under construction before the disaster. [1:34 min.] The frame of the Butler Building (now I. Magnin's department store) at Stockton and Geary streets is seen. It also was under construction at the time of the earthquake and fire. The Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill, almost ready to open at the time of the disaster, is the square building seen in the distance. [1:43] The tower of the unfinished (pre-disaster) Whittell Building, on Geary Street near Stockton Street, is at center right. The tower of the Shreve Building (pioneer silverware firm) at Post Street and Grant Avenue is behind the ruins at left. The smokestack of a San Francisco Gas and Electric Company substation is at right. [1:45 min.] At center is the handsome domed tower of the Spreckels Building, renamed the Call Building when it became the main office of the San Francisco Call newspaper. [1:54 min.] The view is due north. The Aronson Building is just visible above the nearby wall, which hides the ruined Palace Hotel. [2:10 min.] Ruins are seen along 2nd and 3rd streets to the northeast. The Wells Fargo Building with its heavy cornice is at left center at Mission and 2nd streets. At right, a block closer to the camera position, are hotels on 3rd Street. A view diagonally across Howard Street to 3rd Street shows dramatic hotel and apartment house ruins.

Names

• Thomas A. Edison, Inc
• Kleine (George) Collection (Library of Congress)

Created / Published

• United States : Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1906.

Headings

• -  Old United States Mint (San Francisco, Calif.)
• -  Emporium Department Store
• -  Central Tower (San Francisco, Calif.)
• -  City Hall (San Francisco, Calif. : 1897-1906)
• -  Flood Building (San Francisco, Calif.)
• -  Hotel St. Francis (San Francisco, Calif.)
• -  Fairmont Hotel (San Francisco, Calif.)
• -  San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Calif., 1906
• -  Buildings--Earthquake effects--California--San Francisco
• -  Storage tanks--Earthquake effects--California--San Francisco

Genre

• Actualities (Motion pictures)
• Silent films
• Short films
• Nonfiction films

Notes

• -  Duration: 2:15 at 15 fps.
• -  Source used: The George Kleine Collection...catalog, p. 36.
• -  Filmed in downtown San Francisco, California, probably in mid-May, 1906.
• -  A spectacular pan of the downtown area of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire, as seen from south of Market Street. The location among low ruins was ideal to view the tall ruined buildings along and north of Market Street. Since the facade of St. Patrick's Church is not visible in the pan, the film is probably later than May 9, 1906, the date the facade was demolished.
• -  Collection purchased from Kleine estate March 27, 1947. 35 mm. nitrate film destroyed.
• -  The George Kleine Collection of early motion pictures in the Library of Congress : a catalog / prepared by Rita Horwitz and Harriet Harrison with the assistance of Wendy White. Library of Congress, 1980.

Medium

• viewing print 1 film reel of 1 (50 ft) : si., b&w ; 16 mm.
• dupe neg pic 1 film reel of 1 (50 ft) : si., b&w ; 16 mm.
• non-viewing print 1 film reel of 1 (50 ft) : si., b&w ; 16 mm.

Call Number/Physical Location

• FLA 1493 (viewing print)
• FRA 3844 (dupe neg pic)
• FRA 3845 (non-viewing print)

Repository

• Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA dcu

Digital Id

• https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/ntscrm.01622198

Library of Congress Control Number

• 00694426

Online Format

• image
• video

LCCN Permalink

• https://lccn.loc.gov/00694426

Additional Metadata Formats

• MARCXML Record
• MODS Record
• Dublin Core Record