I'd often walk along the corner of Hyde and Bush streets to go to Cala Foods (which is a deplorable insult to food I might add) and I'd see this building on the corner. It seems to mostly have medical offices in it and was really non-descript. Actually, I'd go so far as to say it was ugly. At some point in the 1970's or 80's, it seems that someone got the bright idea to cover up the exterior with these sheets of faux marble. This covered up all the old facades as well as well as some great arched windows. In the process it made it look like this off-white block of crap that had been dumped on the corner. I assumed that this was the way the building always had been until they started to rip off the lousy exterior one day.
It was amazing to see all of this great architecture and work suddenly get unearthed. Sure, there were going to be some restoration issues to deal with or remove, but I'd gladly take that over what was there. Now, instead of an ugly cube, in its place is a lovely older building from the early part of the 20th century that brings back character and the real "San Francisco" look to the street. I applaud the owners in their decision and encourage others with similar buildings to do the same.
