San Francisco City Hall, one of the most magnificent public buildings in America, lifts its dome 307 feet over your head, sixteen feet higher than the United States Capitol in Washington. San Francisco City Hall was built between 1913 and 1915 to replace the previous city hall, which was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake after revealing scandalous construction fraud — the original building's dome collapsed in the quake, exposing the hollow core where contractors had pocketed the money meant for solid masonry. The current building, designed by Arthur Brown Jr. and John Bakewell, is genuine: its dome is of reinforced concrete and survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake with only minor damage.
The building has witnessed some of the most dramatic moments in San Francisco history. In 1978, Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk — the first openly gay elected official in California history — were shot and killed in this building by former Supervisor Dan White. In 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the city to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and 4,000 couples were married here before the California Supreme Court halted the practice.
The rotunda where those marriages took place is open to the public. Step inside and notice the dome rising overhead.