A famous city’s most famous landmark.
About
The Ferry Building is one of San Francisco’s most iconic landmarks. The historic waterfront destination serves as both a gateway to the city and a gathering place for the Bay Area community. At its heart is the Ferry Building Marketplace, a vibrant collection of primarily local, independently owned shops, restaurants, and artisan producers that celebrate the region’s rich culture and culinary heritage. The Ferry Building is committed to supporting small regional producers, showcasing businesses that prioritize sustainable practices, and fostering an environment where artisan entrepreneurs can grow and thrive. Explore our merchants here.
As a community hub, the Ferry Building also brings together residents and visitors to experience the best of the Bay Area through a robust slate of public programming and events.
Through its unique retail offerings and partnerships with local organizations, civic leaders, and regional transit agencies, it strengthens connections across the region while preserving its role as a welcoming destination for cuisine, culture, and community.
history
The Ferry Building first opened on July 13, 1898, beginning its life as a transportation hub. From the Gold Rush until the 1930s, arrival by ferry boat became the only way travelers and commuters – except those coming from the Peninsula – could reach the city, and the Ferry Building, with its iconic 245-foot clocktower looming over Market Street, was the ultimate gateway.
The openings of the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge, along with mass use of the automobile, diminished the daily commute by ferry. And by the 1950s, the Ferry Building was used very little. The historic interior of the structure was lost in 1955, when much of the building was converted to standard office space. The double-deck Embarcadero Freeway also cast its shadow over the building for 35 years–until the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake damaged the freeway and it was demolished to make way for today’s Embarcadero.
After the 1989 Earthquake, the City created a plan for the waterfront that included the demolition of the double-deck freeway and the creation of a new street-level Embarcadero to activate an area that was historically industrial in character. To draw the public to the new waterfront, the Port and City of San Francisco supported the redevelopment of the historic Ferry Building at its center point.
In 2003, the landmark San Francisco Ferry Building reopened to the public after an extensive four-year restoration, which also transformed the 660-foot-long skylit nave into the world-renowned Marketplace . The Ferry Building Marketplace has become a San Francisco institution that serves as a public destination for the Bay Area’s dynamic food culture as well as a community gathering place.
A significant restoration effort to preserve the historic character of the building was completed in 2024. The four-year project repaired portions of the façade and repainted the exterior in “Ferry Building Gray,” a custom-blended paint representing the varied warm gray tones of the building’s original Colusa sandstone.
On July 13th 2023, the Ferry Building celebrated its 125th anniversary and the City officially proclaimed July 13th Ferry Building Day in San Francisco, marking a day each year to commemorate the iconic landmark.
