San Francisco City Hall
Its dome clears the U.S. Capitol by 42 feet — and anyone can walk straight in.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk San Francisco offline.
A 1915 Beaux-Arts civic building whose dome, modeled on Mansart's Baroque domes of Les Invalides and Val-de-Grâce in Paris, rises 307.5 feet over the Civic Center. The upper rotunda is open to the public, and the spot where Mayor Moscone was assassinated is just steps from the second-floor mayor's office — history you can stand next to.
What to look for
- The dome itself — 112 feet wide, its silhouette borrowed directly from Baroque Paris
- Interior stonework: finish marbles sourced from Alabama, Colorado, Vermont, and Italy
- Bronze busts of George Moscone and Dianne Feinstein near the mayor's office entrance, marking the assassination site
Upper rotunda levels are public and wheelchair accessible.
San Francisco City Hall is one of 31 sights worth the detour in San Francisco, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the San Francisco pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in San Francisco
- Golden Gate BridgeOpened May 27, 1937 as simultaneously the world's longest and tallest suspension bridge — you can walk the 4,200-foot main span yourself.
- Alcatraz IslandFor 29 years, cold Bay tidal currents did what bars alone could not — make escape nearly impossible.
- Transamerica PyramidAn 853-foot pyramid that ruled San Francisco's skyline for 45 years — still on the Transamerica logo even though the company quietly moved its HQ to Baltimore.
- Golden Gate ParkSan Francisco turned three miles of bare shifting sand dunes into the country's third-busiest urban park — starting from scratch in 1870.
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)The West Coast's first museum devoted solely to 20th-century art, now stretched across 170,000 square feet after a 2016 expansion that nearly sextupled public space.
- Alcatraz Federal PenitentiaryA 9-by-5-foot cell surrounded by cold bay currents — the federal government once staked its reputation on the claim that no one could leave.