Building 40, Employment Office (San Francisco, California)

 office building, 1941_construction, historical layer / disappeared object

Built in 1941.

pier70sf.org/mappage/mappage.htm --

"Bauhaus-inspired, four-story rectangular structure with a flat roof and two-story, glazed entry features. A glazed, two-story, bevel-corner stairhall stands behind the entry door, dominating the façade.

"The Employment Office is an important building to the history of the laborers within the plant. With the extreme pace of war ship production, a vast number of workers were needed to operate the machinery. Upwards of a dozen labor unions ensured the employment of their members, but the need for interview and paperwork processing was a Herculean task when it is considered that at least 4,000 workers labored at the plant during its peak. The building, as with many built in 1941, was government-owned. It has a stuccoed façade suggesting permanence but is built on a wood frame on shallow foundations.

"Its location is important as well. It is literally shoved in the corner of the plant along Illinois Street. This placement, off 20th Street, did not interfere with the procession of hired workers at the plant. It is also a narrow building having a small footprint—so as not to take valuable land from the open assembly yard."