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9781324020325

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Reviews

"""Portal is much more than a history of San Francisco’s ferry terminal; it’s a window to the soul of a great city. John King gives us a lively and revealing account of a remarkable building that has endured against all odds and assumed new meaning. There are lessons here for every city."" -- Inga Saffron, Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism"

This is a book of great charm. Mr. King...is a stylish writer with an eye for the delightful detail. He lovingly recounts the restoration of the Ferry Building and celebrates its new role in the city.... By expanding the circle of those enchanted by the Ferry Building, Mr. King has made it more likely that residents will summon that will and write a new chapter in the Ferry Building's history.--John Buntin ""Wall Street Journal"" Fascinating insights into San Francisco history and the transformation of other waterfront cities.-- ""Kirkus Reviews"" Vibrant. . . an illuminating architectural and social history.-- ""Publishers Weekly"" John King is an architectural Indiana Jones, revealing the careening drama and the struggle for consensus as to what a city should be. An account that is both authoritative and fun to read.--Anthony Flint, Senior Fellow, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and author of Wrestling with Moses John King has produced a tour de force of architectural and social commentary, grounded in the rise and indomitable relevance of San Francisco's iconic Ferry Building. From 1898 to 2023, an incredible story unfolds here of earthquakes, recessions, disasters, and relentless conflict. Through each crisis, the Ferry Building finds a way to adapt and prosper. In masterful prose, King ties the building's saga to the larger story of San Francisco and even Boston and New York and other waterfront cities as they go through dramatic cycles of decay and rebirth. And in so doing, provides us with an overdue and bracing dose of optimism.--Jerry Brown, former governor of California and mayor of Oakland This book is much more than a history of San Francisco's ferry terminal; it's a window to the soul of a great city. John King gives us a lively and revealing account of a remarkable building that has endured against all odds and assumed new meaning. There are lessons here for every city.--Inga Saffron, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Portal has the good fortune of having been written by a dedicated architecture critic. . . . Serious and rigorous, the book furnishes a gimlet-eyed glimpse of San Francisco's continuing struggles -- and what lies beneath them.--Ian Volner ""New York Times Book Review""

Author Information

John King is San Francisco Chronicle’s former architecture and urban design critic and a two-time Pulitzer finalist. An honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, he lives in Berkeley, California.

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