The hidden rooftop art at 1019 Market

The Mid Market art work you’ve never seen before because it’s all on the roof at 1017 – 1019 Market and none of it is viewable from the street and it’s not publicly accessible. There’s a chance this artwork my be painted over as 1019 market has been for sale for some time now. All of this artwork was done with the permission and blessing of the owner, Robert Herztein who is himself an artist and has artwork for sale on Artspans website. Any inquiries about his art or the building itself can be done there as both his phone and email are up and working . Robert is also looking for some website help for his artwork

this is also now posted on Curbed

This is the roof top of 1019 Market facing north across market. You can see the top of the Golden Gate Theater and the Hilton tower on the right

Three local artists, Apex, Mona Caron and Chor Boogie have done pieces up here. All three have done numerous public displays around San Francisco so you’ve probably seen their work before

Mona Caron did this piece on the roof of 1019 Market. If the style looks familiar, it should, because she also did the Duboce Bike Mural and the Windows into the Tenderloin at Jones and Golden Gate one block away. It’s called Passinger E

You can actually see the ‘Windows on the Tenderloin Mural’ from this same spot on the roof

Apex did a number of pieces on the roof of 1019 Market. This is the back side of the facade facing Market street

This one is in the back overlooking Stevenson alley, but you can’t see it from the street. For some of these there may have been some other artists involved

This one is definitely Apex. You might remember the mural at 6th and Market while Pearls Burgers was being built which was also done with Chor Boogie

This piece is likely done by Chor Boogie. That is the owner, Robert Herztein on the right

Wider angle looking southwest with the federal building and the SOMA Grand Building in the background on the right

This piece is the only one you can see from Market street, but only part of it. Here’s what it looks like from down below on Market

this is on the back side on Stevenson, partially viewable from the street, but barely. It was targeted by the city for removal, but only one side

and it’s painted over

but the design on the right remains intact

This piece, titled ‘Freight E’ probably done by Chor Boogie appears to be missing as well, since it wasn’t up there when we were up on the roof

This is 1017 market from Market street. Much of the Graffiti on that wall has now been painted over by contractors with the city

this one is via Kasey Smith on Flickr

And this is where I type a lot about one of my favorite buildings on Market Street. 1017 Market Street was built in 1909 by Architect George Applegarth as the headquarters for the local chain department store Eastern Outfitting Company. Changed to Union Furniture Co in the late 1940’s, remnants of both signs are visible on either side of the building. The current tenants are a clothing manufacturer and several ground level shops.
From the Up From the Deep Blog:
“From a Market Street sidewalk perspective, the Eastern Outfitting Company Building’s enormous, unrelieved expanses of brick are mostly hidden by the buildings on either side. The illusion created by the false front is largely dependent on looking upward from street level. The giant Corinthian order columns and capitals are constructed of terra-cotta tiles; and the entablature, seemingly so massive, is in fact hollow—a galvanized-iron box. Architecture like this is for me transcendent; it turns the street into a stage set, which makes otherwise hidden parts of the building even more tantalizing. The deus ex machina, you might say, is the utilitarian brick that makes up the building behind the facade.”
Great historical photos: upfromthedeep.com/2011/04/08/grand-illusion/

And here is the anti graffiti team working on the same wall. they didn’t even need keys to get into the building as they climbed up the fire escape and then billed the owner later

Basically they painted over almost everything you can see from the street, but left most of the so called ‘actual artwork’ that is hidden from the street intact (very controversial depending on your view – even the owners can say WTF about some of it)

And it’s all painted over