By Sam Whiting, Reporter June 26, 2025 - San Francisco Chronicle
Barbara Gallios was walking her greyhounds Xena and Cosmo through the intersection of San Francisco’s Bay and Larkin streets Wednesday morning when she looked north and saw something that made her stop momentarily in the crosswalk, halting Xena and Cosmo too.
It wasn’t the bay itself, and it wasn’t the fog shrouding the Golden Gate. It was the Ghirardelli Square clock tower, in all its red brick and gray slate glory: The white wrapping and scaffolding that had obscured it for a year had finally been removed after a full restoration.
“We love it,” said Gallios, speaking for herself and her dogs, three Russian Hill residents who have had to live without their landmark since last summer when it went under wraps, dimming the Christmas season without its festive tiara of golden lights.
109-year-old Ghirardelli Square landmark has been restored to original glory
Greg
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Barbara Gallios was walking her greyhounds Xena and Cosmo through the intersection of San Francisco’s Bay and Larkin streets Wednesday morning when she looked north and saw something that made her stop momentarily in the crosswalk, halting Xena and Cosmo too.
It wasn’t the bay itself, and it wasn’t the fog shrouding the Golden Gate. It was the Ghirardelli Square clock tower, in all its red brick and gray slate glory: The white wrapping and scaffolding that had obscured it for a year had finally been removed after a full restoration.
“We love it,” said Gallios, speaking for herself and her dogs, three Russian Hill residents who have had to live without their landmark since last summer when it went under wraps, dimming the Christmas season without its festive tiara of golden lights.
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“It looks better than before and will bring in more tourists,” Gallios said.
That’s an encouraging assessment for Jamestown, the Atlanta firm that owns the two-story building that houses the Fairmont Heritage Place Ghirardelli Square — including Room 229, a luxury suite inside the tower that rain leaked into during the heavy rains of winter 2022.
Scaffolding was removed this week from the restored clock tower at the Fairmont Heritage Place hotel in Ghirardelli Square.
Richard H. Grant/S.F. Chronicle
Records showed that the slate roof had not been replaced since the clock tower was completed more than a century ago, in 1916. That longevity was enough of a recommendation to send the restoration team back to the original source, an area known as Slate Valley on the border between Vermont and New York.
A total of 2,080 slate tiles weighing 6 tons were used for the job, set in precisely the same pattern as before.
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“For historic preservation reasons when putting the new tiles in place we used the exact same layout and design, including zigzags next to the dormers,” said Alex Schwiebert, West Coast regional manager for Jamestown. “Ghirardelli Square is a place where you want to honor the past.”
Replication of the decorative elements in the dormers and the crow’s nest took workers 4,850 hours to install. The 50 bulbs that rise vertically up the four corners of the roof line are now LED to match lights that drop nearly to street level.
The lead paint around the windows had to be replaced but the color was impossible to match so the crew created its own, called “Ghirardelli Gray,” though it is actually more of a tan color.
LED lights line the restored clock tower at Ghirardelli Square.
Richard H. Grant/S.F. Chronicle
Schwiebert declined to reveal what the restoration project cost, but the company did not skimp. “We’re excited about setting up Ghirardelli Square for the next 100 years,” he said. “The clock tower is back.”
Designed in the fashion of a French chateau, the clock tower rises more than 100 feet at the corner of North Point and Larkin streets, and can be seen from as far away as Pacific Heights, particularly at night when the lights outline the peaked roof. In 1982 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, so it took two years for this restoration plan to work its way through city preservationist channels.
The clock in the tower has long been used as a beacon and timing device for swimmers at Aquatic Park. From land it can be seen from the view terrace at Francisco Park.
Anton Richter, visiting with his parents from Saxony, Germany, saw it Wednesday and came down the steps from Francisco Park for closer inspection. “It looks good so we’ll take a picture maybe,” he said.
Tim Smith, who has lived on Russian Hill for 30 years, noted that the restored tower “looks much better, cleaner and authentic.” He also noted that the clock on the south-facing side said 1:30 when it was just past 11.
The clock tower sign at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco.
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
“It’s never on time,” he said. “It’s still not on time.”
The four separate clocks are reset twice a year by a clocksmith specializing in antiques, who is due for a post-project visit.
“The scaffolding just came down,” Schwiebert. “The master clock setter will be coming back soon. That’s at the top of our to-do list.”