This is the Portals of the Past monument in Golden Gate Part, San Francisco. It’s actually the front door portico of a Mr. A.M. Towne, who had a house on the famed Nob Hill, site of some of the worst devastation during the 1906 earthquake and subsequent great fire of San Francisco. The portico attracted a lot of attention even before the earthquake, and the San Francisco News Letter saw fit to make a special note of the local materials and workmanship of the stone:

“The portico of highly polished California marble is worthy of special mention, not only for its intrinsic beauty, but from the fact that it is the first work of the kind ever executed of native material, as well as probably the finest in detail. The columns and balcony are of grey marble from Colton, Cal., and was furnished by the California Marble and Building Stone Co. The same company furnished the beautiful green marble which forms the rich wainscoting of the interior of the portico. This vividly tinted green variety comes from near Mojave, Cal., and has thus far never been produced in so large a quantity.”San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser May 9, 1891 via:www.sfmuseum.org/hist11/towner…

Because the 1906 quake was so strong, no seismograph in the area survived to record an accurate record, so there is much debate about the actual strength of the earthquake. The ground rupture of the 1906 quake was 296 miles long, compared to the 1989 Loma Prieta quake rupture of 25 miles. A surface horizontal offset of 20 feet and vertical offset of 24 feet was observed at Point Reyes. The 1906 quake released about 16 times the energy of the Loma Prieta quake. That’s a big big earthquake. After the earthquake, all the gas mains in the city had been broken and were leaking, and also all the water mains were broken. Then the fire started…it burned for four days. Here’s a great link to more history on the brutal 1906 Earthquake with lots of pictures www.sfmuseum.org/1906/photos.h…

After the fire, nothing remained of Towne’s house but this stone portico. A local photographer, Arnold Genthe, who was journaling the damage, took a famous photo of the smoldering ruins of San Francisco, framed through this portico. Here is the photo: assets.atlasobscura.com/media/…

The portico was donated the the city of San Francisco in 1909 by Mrs. Towne, after Mr. Towne had died and the mayor of SF, James Phelan pawned it off on Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McLaren, and it was placed by the edge of Lloyd Lake in 1909. I have to say, this is probably the most striking monument in Golden Gate Park, perfect to sit by and contemplate the future and the past.