SkyscraperPage Forum - View Single Post - San Diego - Downtown

geomorph · #1 Posted **Apr 22, 2015, 7:02 PM**

San Diego is the 8th largest city in the United States by population (1,355,000) and is by far the largest city of the San Diego-Carlsbad Metropolitan Statistical Area in Southern California (the 12th largest in the United States).

Downtown is located on the Eastern side of San Diego Bay, a natural harbor that is about 13 miles long and averages about 1 mile wide. A bend in the bay's shoreline embraces the Western and Southern boundaries of downtown, while a bend in the Interstate Freeway #5 creates the Eastern and Northern boundaries. It is about 1.5 miles from East to West and 1.3 miles from North to South. The terrain is mostly flat, with gradual slopes up from the shoreline, reaching a steeper incline in the Northeast corner at the area called Cortez Hill. Downtown has a wide variety of uses and structures, and is a lively and attractive place in comparison to its condition before the developments of the past 25 years.

This thread will focus on buildings from the city's historic era through its postmodern era, up to a few 1990's/2000's examples.

Broadway Streetscape:
This street runs East/West and is the main thoroughfare of downtown.

Downtown Cityscapes:

Gaslamp Quarter:
The heart of downtown is occupied by about 16 blocks of historic small buildings from the late 1800's to early 1900's, and is the city's most concentrated bar and nightlife area.

Grand Historic Buildings:
Downtown has a nice but limited collection of structures in Beaux-Arts, Italian and Spanish Revival styles, including those from the Art Deco period; oddly, there are few examples of the Zig-zag Moderne or Streamlined Moderne styles of Art Deco.

Midcentury Buildings:
There is a large collection of these, many of them highrises; some are attractive examples of the era while many are typically hostile to the streetscape.

Late Century Highrises:

Postmodern Buildings:
Downtown's revival started in the 1980's with the opening of the postmodern Horton Plaza, an outdoor mall and hotel and theater that occupies several blocks adjacent to a restored historic park (which is currently being restored again). Other later small developments nearby can be categorized in the same spirit.