The Embarcadero and Ferry Building, San Francisco — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The San Francisco Ferry Building is one of those rare landmarks that has died and been reborn. Completed in 1898 in Beaux-Arts style by architect A. Page Brown, the building's iconic 245-foot clock tower with its four 22-foot clock dials became an instant San Francisco symbol. By the 1930s, the Ferry Building was the second busiest travel hub in the entire world, moving more than 50,000 commuters daily across the bay. Then the bridges came. The Golden Gate and Bay Bridge in the 1930s made ferries nearly obsolete, and the Ferry Building spent decades in decline, eventually hidden behind an elevated freeway. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake changed everything. Rather than rebuild the damaged Embarcadero Freeway, San Francisco made the bold choice to tear it down, reconnecting the city with its waterfront for the first time in decades. A palm-lined boulevard and pedestrian promenade replaced the concrete highway, running from Fisherman's Wharf to China Basin. Today, the Ferry Building has been reinvented as a mixed-use marketplace filled with artisan food vendors, restaurants, and shops, while still serving its original purpose as a working ferry terminal. The Embarcadero promenade offers stunning bayfront views and is one of the city's best walking routes. Questo's San Francisco waterfront adventures start here, where the story of how a city reclaimed its relationship with the water unfolds with every step.