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“The greenest building is the one that is already built,” remarked architect Carl Elefante. The greenest of the green, then, might be that fine old structure saved from the wrecker’s ball and brought up to the state of the art in energy efficiency and all of the other attributes of “greenness.” 601 Townsend Street in the South-of-Market district of San Francisco is one such building. Designed by the noted firm of Sutton & Weeks for the Pacific Steel and Hardware Company, the three-story, brick building was completed in 1905, just in time to survive the 1906 earthquake.
