Month: September 2017

The Harrison Presents Fireside Talks: Enter the Fantastic San Francisco Time Machine

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The Harrison’s Luxury Attaché has partnered with the San Francisco Museum & Historical Society to present a series of five Fireside Talks, all of which will be hosted exclusively for The Harrison residents between September 2017 and March 2018. On Thursday, September 21, Joseph Amster kickstarted the series whilst transporting guests to the 1800s, weaving them through the ins and outs of San Francisco’s history.

Perhaps the Bay Area’s most charismatic historian, Joseph Amster fully embodies Joshua Abraham Norton: the self-proclaimed “Emperor of the United States” in 1859. Emperor Norton was considered one of the most eccentric men of his time; thus, it comes as no surprise that Amster assumes the same attire and political ascendancy.

Opening with an iconic quote from Oscar Wilde, “Everybody who disappeared ends up in San Francisco,” Joseph Amster carried The Harrison residents through crucial details and events that created a lasting impact on the Bay Area. Over the hour, attendees were enraptured by his whimsical personality and exposed to the legacy that Emperor Norton holds in San Francisco today—such as his decree for a bridge to connect the city to Oakland. Today, that decree lies just beyond our doorstep as one of the most alluring and coveted attractions in San Francisco.

The Harrison is thrilled to relay the success of the event and is looking forward to an auspicious future for what will surely be an enriching historical series.

Learn more about life at The Harrison here.

*Photo Courtesy of Bay Bridge Info

Designer Ken Fulk Recounts the Thoughtful Intent Behind Each Stylish Square Foot of The Harrison

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Often described as charismatic, eccentric and unwittingly talented, Ken Fulk is Proprietor of creative agency Ken Fulk Inc. and the brilliant designer behind the inimitable details lining The Harrison—from The Grand Salon lobby to penthouse lounge. In this video, produced by Transparent House, the designer recounts San Francisco’s roots, its modern renaissance and how The Harrison fits in by standing out as a beacon of style in a varied skyline.

The Lobby

While designing the lobby of The Harrison, Fulk’s intent was to create an enchanting, yet welcoming, entrance—to give residents the feeling they were coming home to the most stylish place in the city. “We built an incredible cerused oak library – two story – with a beautiful mezzanine, inside the lobby of the Harrison,” Fulk said. “It looks like you’ve walked into a beautiful grand residence.”

Penthouse Lounge

Uncle Harry’s has an overwhelmingly vibrant energy, like stepping into a speakeasy from a bygone era or the elegant living quarters of your worldly and enlightened great uncle. At 3,500 square feet, this high-in-the-sky penthouse lounge offers both an elegant daily retreat and an inspired event venue, complete with a bar and fireplace, and set to unimpeded views of the Bay Bridge, Twin Peaks, city and marina below.

San Francisco Culture

Despite Silicon Valley’s tendencies of casual attire, Fulk has recognized a burgeoning demand for more sophisticated environments. He notes a “palpable sense” of San Francisco’s importance happening right now. “We’re living amongst the Thomas Edisons or the Henry Fords of our time—people who are changing the world,” he said. With this in mind, Fulk designed The Harrison with old-world class to heighten residents’ aspirations and help them to achieve their own personal bests, noting “Folks will want to live up to it.”

Details of a Life Well Lived

While designing The Harrison, Fulk dreamed of creating the frame for a life well-lived. Attention to detail triumphs in the building’s topiary-flanked entrance, the artifacts lining the grand salon, the textured walls, each residence’s unlacquered brass fixtures and its diagonal-planked Siberian oak wood floors. Fulk amounts fine details to a fine life and affords this opportunity to the select San Franciscans who will own at The Harrison.

Take a peek at The Harrison’s residences, learn more about its hotel-quality amenities or explore the neighborhood.

How a “Park in the Sky” Will Reshape San Francisco’s Skyline

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Akin to a fingerprint, San Francisco’s skyline is complete with distinctive high-rises and inspiring Bay vistas. Yet, any fingerprint presents its limitations: the inability to transform, to recreate, to introduce new eccentricities. Here, within the heart of SoMa, this metaphorical fingerprint will soon defy all limitations and reimagine itself as, indeed, a green thumb.

The highly-anticipated Transbay Transit Center, San Francisco’s visionary transportation, and housing project, is poised to redefine the skyline with 5.4 acres of pristine parkland and a curated collection of rare trees—469, to be exact. Five stories high and 1,400 feet in length, the rooftop City Park will thoroughly reinvent the notion of elevated, sustainable living. While the space will showcase an array of amenities, including an outdoor amphitheater, restaurant and cafe, the stunning vegetation will make all else green with envy.

Despite questions regarding the future of the transit center, such as when it may connect to high-speed rail or which retailers will occupy its 100,000-square-foot interior, one answer remains clear: the City Park will captivate far long before the trains arrive. Designed by landscape contractor Patrick Trollop and architect Adam Greenspan, the glassed-in rooftop will be a natural skyline museum, replete with manicured gardens, trails, water features and foreign flora sourced from various destinations along the nation’s west coast.

Trollop and Greenspan have scoured nurseries for over a year, securing an assortment of trees including Chinese elms from San Diego, island oaks from Escondido, a single Columnar Hornbeam from Portland and numerous others. Presently, 60 trees have been hauled into the sky via cranes, with an impressive 409 to go. The 5.4-acre park will be, in essence, a botanical gallery divided amongst sections reserved for the many species. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Greenspan exclaimed, “I think there is going to be a tree for everyone. We have grand and stately trees, and we also have weird trees, quirky ones.”

Yet, in spite of its prospect as an enlivening natural wonder set high within the sky, the City Park will provide countless environmental and health benefits to both the city and its inhabitants. The rooftop will offer natural insulation for the interior spaces, regulating heat during warmer months and retaining heat during colder weather. A true living organism, the City Park will improve air quality by capturing and filtering exhaust from the cars below. Additionally, research shows that residents with access to green spaces in urban locales have improved general health, reduced stress levels, increased levels of physical activity and more.

And the best part? All of this lies just moments beyond your doorstep at The Harrison. Here, living isn’t of the typical garden variety—it’s rather comparable to the city’s soon-to-be botanical oasis.

Explore SoMa and all that The Harrison’s neighborhood has to offer here.

*Photos courtesy of Inhabit