Evolution of San Francisco in 3D | 250 Years in Under 9 Minutes

San Francisco, 1776 to today: 250 years of growth rebuilt in 3D, from a windswept peninsula of dunes and golden hills to the skyline of Salesforce Tower. Every modern building you see rising is one of the 177,023 buildings mapped by the City and County of San Francisco, appearing in the year the city's records say it was built. It begins with the Spanish supply ship San Carlos sailing through the Golden Gate in August 1776, the founding of the Presidio and Mission Dolores, and the small settlement of Yerba Buena. Then gold is found, ships crowd the cove, and a village of a few hundred people becomes a city of tens of thousands. Golden Gate Park is planted on the sand dunes, the first cable car climbs Clay Street, and the Ferry Building opens on the waterfront. On April 18, 1906, the earthquake and fires destroy most of the city, and San Francisco rebuilds around a new City Hall. Then come Coit Tower and Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, the signing of the United Nations Charter, the Transamerica Pyramid, the Loma Prieta earthquake, a new waterfront ballpark, a new Bay Bridge span and Salesforce Tower. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 The San Carlos and the Presidio (1776) 0:33 Mission Dolores (1776–1791) 0:48 Yerba Buena (1835–1847) 1:07 The Gold Rush (1848–1850) 1:40 The instant city spreads west (1850–1869) 2:04 Golden Gate Park and the first cable car (1870–1873) 2:34 The Ferry Building (1898) 2:46 The 1906 earthquake and fire 3:00 The city rebuilt and the new City Hall (1906–1915) 3:24 Coit Tower and Alcatraz (1933–1934) 3:44 The Bay Bridge (1936) 4:02 The Golden Gate Bridge (1937) 4:22 The United Nations Charter (1945) 4:50 The skyscraper era and the Transamerica Pyramid (1960–1974) 5:30 The view from Twin Peaks (1974–1989) 6:00 The waterfront ballpark (1990–2000) 6:32 A new Bay Bridge span (2013) 6:54 Salesforce Tower and San Francisco today (2018–2026) 📌 ABOUT THIS RECONSTRUCTION This is an illustrative 3D reconstruction, not archival footage. Building footprints, heights and construction years come from City and County of San Francisco open data, terrain from the USGS 3D Elevation Program, and population figures from the U.S. Census. The dataset only includes buildings standing today, so the city before the 1906 fire is shown as an illustration, and in the city's records 1900 is a placeholder for many old buildings, which were re-dated. The 1848 shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove, later landfill, the 1906 fire zone, the Presidio and Mission buildings, the ships, people, vehicles, fog and the closing fireworks are artistic illustrations. The Transamerica Pyramid, Salesforce Tower, Coit Tower and Sutro Tower are simplified models built from their footprints and published heights. The 1906 and 1989 earthquakes are shown with restraint, in memory of everyone who lost their lives. Rendered in a custom 3D engine from public data. No AI-generated images or footage. Original music and sound design. 📚 DATA City and County of San Francisco: Building Footprints, Land Use and Tall Building Inventory · USGS 3D Elevation Program · U.S. Census Bureau: decennial census and TIGER/Line Which city should we rebuild next? Tell us in the comments. #SanFrancisco #SFHistory #3DTimelapse #Timelapse #History #GoldenGateBridge #CityEvolution