More San Franciscan Adventures...(including a Frank Lloyd Wright pit stop!).....

As per yesterday's post, here we have further photographic highlights from our recent journey to the lovely metropolis of San Francisco:

I snapped a pic of this cool reclining figurative sculpture perched high on a building near downtown  (3rd Street, I think?).  Fun public art....!

The garden green at the Yerba Buena Center of the Arts in downtown's SoMA (South of Market Area).  As you can see, it was a gorgeous day, with plenty of folks enjoying the sun and mild temps.  Across the green here you can see old St. Patrick's Church, a stately brick structure constructed the mid 1800's and a survivor of the Quake/Fires of '06.....

My daughter with the red brick SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) building in the background (would have loved to have had time to actually visit INSIDE the museum -- hopefully next time)......

My son in front of one of the many public fountains at the Yerba Buena Arts Center complex

Another fun thing we were able to do during our Frisco stay, was visit a Frank LLoyd Wright site.  Our family has long been admirers, and so we've made it a habit of visiting FLW-designed structures  (including but not limited to the Dana Thomas House in Springfield, IL, his home and studio in Oak Park, IL, his home and studio (Taliesin) in Spring Green, WI, the Robie House in Chicago, plus Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob in PA) whenever we might happen to be in the vicinity of one.   There are actually relatively few FLW structures in the Bay area, however there is a likely specimen smack in the middle of downtown (in Union Square), a unique store building he designed in 1948.  Today it remains privately owned, housing the Xanadu Gallery (specialists in Asian antiquities) -- nevertheless it is easy to get to, and luckily (and generously) open to the public:

The front entrance to the store/gallery.  With its lines, shapes, and planes, anyone even remotely familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright could recognize it a mile away.

His small, red signature tile, with the initials 'FLW' (difficult to see here), set into the masonry to the left of the gated entrance of the building.

The facade of the building is actually quite tall in relation to the cave-like, barrel-vaulted entrance (and note the absence of any streetside windows).....

A highly dramatic interior space pulling your eyes upward the moment you step inside (here you can see the glass-covered barrel-vaulted entrance from within).  It definitely has a 'modern' feel to it, and must have felt very progressive and contemporary indeed in 1948.

A soaring, circular interior space, with a ramp rising around the perimeter to the upper level -- precursor to his design of the Guggenheim Museum (to which I've not yet been fortunate enough to visit, though it's definitely on my Bucket List!), with circles, curves and general round-ness echoing as a theme throughout.....

A view from the upper reaches of the ramp, looking down into that awesome round hanging planter.  And a wonderful space indeed to show off the gallery's amazing collection of Asian art and antiques.....

Another view from the ramp.  Lots of nooks and crannies behind the walls you see here, with circular cut-outs punched through here and there.  Plenty of original, custom FLW-designed wooden built-ins all over the place, and his mark apparent in EVERY detail everywhere.  So very fortunate that the original space is pretty much intact, having been barely modified over the years.....

The elaborate, light-filled ceiling calls somewhat to mind pictures I've seen of the 'Lilly Pad' skylighted celing of his Johnson Wax building in Racine, WI (also on my Bucket List).

In any case, it was a great little stop/tour for us, and super nice of the lovely folks of the Xanadu Gallery (check out their link to see more store photos -- and better ones than these taken with my phone) to be so generous with tourists wanting to visit the space -- they let us crawl all over it and take plenty of pics....!