Hibernia Bank

Here’ s my contribution to this Saturday’s World Wide Sketchcrawl! I took the opportunity to re-visit one of my favorite buildings on Market street, the Hibernia Bank. It remains as gothic and distressed as ever. Crown jewel of the Tenderloin.

If you’re visiting the city, it’s a short walk on Market west from the Powell street BART stop, between 6th and 7th. Right across from the Market Street Cinema. (Which is not the kind of cinema you might expect).

I see some new plywood up on the windows, and could hear some crashing and banging – so perhaps renovations are finally underway. I hear the intent is to create a new set of high-end shops. It’s perhaps a bit ambitious right now, seeing as the immediate area is a little urban blight-ish, and there are many recently empty storefronts in the higher traffic areas towards Embarcadero.

I’ve  drawn here two or three times before – I want to finally get a drawing of this building that I really love before it becomes a Gap or something equally silly.  It really needs to be a public library or an art gallery or something suitable! Here’s hoping.