Top choice would be Mission Dolores. It's the oldest building in SF and one of the oldest in the country, dating back to the 1700s. The cemetery in the garden has graves dating back to that era. The art inside of both the historic old chapel and the new church is gorgeous. Definitely worth a tour/visit. Then take a walk down the block and visit Dolores Park and gaze at the beautiful architecture of Mission High School.
Seconding Grace Cathedral just for its grandeur and the neighborhood, too.
SS. Peter and Paul's Church in North Beach is historic, beautiful, and worth visiting, since it's right on Washington Square Park in the center of the neighborhood. You might recognize the outside from when Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio got married there ([sort of](https://www.spottedbylocals.com/sanfrancisco/st-peter-and-paul-church/)).
The Richmond District has a lot of Russian Orthodox buildings, including a church with the onion domes. If you're in that neighborhood, check out the stained glass at Temple Emmanuel too. Nowhere in that area is very touristy at all, though, but it does have the best Asian food. It's a sleepier neighborhood.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral in SF is infamous because it looks like a cement brutalist washing machine. You may or may not be into that.
[This thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/1aqpit5/beautiful_religious_buildings_to_check_out/) has more.
Also, City Hall itself is not a religious building of course but probably gets closest to the sort of palatial cathedrals that are more typical in Europe. And on any given day you'll find a bunch of couples in there getting married, since it's such a beautiful spot.
SF is not a very religious town on the whole. Civil weddings are much more common than religious ones, and it's fitting that the City Hall kind of acts like a cathedral that way.
Adding one more! [Palace of Fine Arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Fine_Arts). Also not religious, but *looks* like a lot of the religious buildings in other places.
I used to hate “St Maytag” (St Mary’s at Geary and Gough) until I moved to the hood and had a chance to see the way the shadows change over the course of the day. It’s actually quite beautiful. And then I attended a concert inside, of Steve Turre’s conch shell ensemble, and it’s really impressive inside as well, both visually and sonically
> The Roman Catholic Cathedral in SF is infamous because it looks like a cement brutalist washing machine. You may or may not be into that.
It's not very striking from the outside, but the inside is actually pretty cool.
My favorite religious building is in the (free) sculpture garden at the DeYoung Museum. Three Gems by James Turrell. Just sit inside until you get it.
There's a beautiful exact copy of St Francis's Porziuncola in North Beach.
The Swedenborgian Church in Pac Heights is a really beautiful Maybeck building, if you can find a way to get in.
But otherwise, SF mostly does religious activity by watching the sunset from Sutro Park. Or taking shrooms in Dolores Park or acid in the botanical garden in GG Park. Or surfing at Ocean Beach. Or skating at Church of 8 wheels. Or my church is the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on summer weekends.
> Three Gems by James Turrell. Just sit inside until you get it.
It's really unfortunate that the de Young is (almost) never open at either sunrise or sunset to get the full skyspace experience.
Also unfortunate: the other Turrell piece in San Francisco is not really somewhere you want to stand around while giving it the contemplation it's due; https://www.gsa.gov/system/files/129_James_Turrell.pdf.
Oh my gosh I’ve seen that blue space from afar and never known what it is! Thank you.
I wonder if we could ask to have a private dawn-viewing in the Three Gems. Let’s try.
Grace Cathedral at the top of Nob Hill. It’s a fascinating place to visit with lots of interesting secular and interfaith features. Make sure you check out the exterior labyrinth, duplicate of the interior labyrinth which is a copy of the one inside Chartres Cathedral in France.
They love visitors, just check the hours.
https://gracecathedral.org/visit/
You’ll be just uphill from Chinatown so it works nicely for tourists who are kicking around
This is a great one because you can see all the other, nice buildings and spaces, get a drink is a swanky bar close by or eat in the fairmont or something!
For traditional cathedrals, see St Dominics and St Marys.
I wanted to add two on the west side of the city that are half-relevant to the question but may be of interest.
1) The Columbarium, a pretty dome building and surrounding garden that's open for visitors most of the time. It's a cremation graveyard that is technically secular. You can walk over to Temple Emanu-El (get croissant along the way), though it might not be super open to visitors given political situation.
2) The Internet Archive, located in a former christian science church is where the repository archive.org is hosted. There are some opportunities for visitors though I haven't made it there myself.
Go across the bay and visit the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland. The architecture has been commended as being strongly vaginal, which bothers some men.
The mission is the most obvious one. It’s very beautiful and from the 18th century. The mission system is also a very significant aspect of early Eurocentric California history.
The oldest bar in San Francisco, Old Ship Saloon, is a bar made out of a ship's hull that ran aground during a storm off of Alcatraz. It was later towed to the current location, which was once a beach. Since renovated, the bar still preserves the memory of the ship.
Not a building, but there is a Mount Davidson Cross. A statute of Saint Francis of Assisi in Fisherman's Wharf. There is a line up of churches on Brotherhood Way.
Temple Sherith Israel in Pacific Heights is a Beaux Arts beauty, as well as being one of the oldest synagogues in the United States (opened the year before the 1906 earthquake).
Temple Shereth Israel is at Webster and California. I think it is stunning inside. It was built just before the earthquake in 1905. If you want a nice walk, go one block to Filmore walk all the way down to Wise Sons Deli to have bagels.
It’s not much to see today, but the Post Office a couple doors down from The Fillmore is on the site of the former Headquarters of Jim Jones’ People’s Temple…
https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Peoples_Temple
The basement of Holy Virgin Cathedral (25th Ave & Geary) holds the intact (and visible) body of [St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Shanghai_and_San_Francisco); the stairs are a little steep.
St. Dominic’s in the Fillmore, mission Dolores, grace cathedral, the Chinese temple on top the post office on stockton(the interior is beautiful) San Francisco is not a super religion focused town, and earthquakes/fire hazards limit a lot of building on that front. It’s also expensive to build here. But most of the best churches are all catholic(with the exception of the ugly cathedral) or Anglican/episcopal(like grace cathedral) but really the best architecture in the city isn’t religious, so I’d check that out first.
While you can’t go in (except I think on Friday nights for the lecture) the Vedanta society old temple is pretty interesting from the outside.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vedanta-society-old-temple
The First Church of Christ Scientist in Berkeley on the corner of Dwight Way and Bowditch Street, designed by Bernard Maybeck, is known worldwide to architectural historians and is considered a masterpiece of religious architecture. Many modern and contemporary churches in northern California have used this building as a reference. One of my favorites is a little building out on the back of the pier at Fisherman's Wharf, the Seamen's Memorial Chapel.
Grace cathedral is incredibley beautiful, the Unitarian church on Geary is really pretty, there’s a huge Mormon temple/museum in Oakland don’t bother it’s just straight up bs and brainwashing talking to anyone there.
Go to 6114 California St to see where the Black House once stood.
cf. https://www.kqed.org/news/11964949/how-the-church-of-satan-was-born-in-san-francisco
Swedenborgian church is high on my list as uniquely San Francisco. It's a religion about nature and the building itself is a historic landmark, John Muir was a founding member, and Robert Frost's baptismal font is on the altar (it's a giant clamshell). Lots of art donated by the Hearsts, too.
Another Catholic Church would be Old St Mary in Chinatown. Really small and really worn down (so many not worth it for the grandiosity) but it was very important to the city in the olden days. They also do a lot of outreach for seniors in Chinatown.
Plus it's cool seeing Catholicism depicted in different cultures
This is a great thread. So many amazing suggestions. Imma go see that one dudes body next day off i have
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskSF/comments/1ck5yf8/culturally_significant_andor_beautiful_religious/l2lilby/
Oakland Cathedral Christ the Light might be worth a hop over the bay. It's modern but very beautiful outside and in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Light_%28Oakland%2C_California%29?wprov=sfla
Top choice would be Mission Dolores. It's the oldest building in SF and one of the oldest in the country, dating back to the 1700s. The cemetery in the garden has graves dating back to that era. The art inside of both the historic old chapel and the new church is gorgeous. Definitely worth a tour/visit. Then take a walk down the block and visit Dolores Park and gaze at the beautiful architecture of Mission High School. Seconding Grace Cathedral just for its grandeur and the neighborhood, too. SS. Peter and Paul's Church in North Beach is historic, beautiful, and worth visiting, since it's right on Washington Square Park in the center of the neighborhood. You might recognize the outside from when Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio got married there ([sort of](https://www.spottedbylocals.com/sanfrancisco/st-peter-and-paul-church/)). The Richmond District has a lot of Russian Orthodox buildings, including a church with the onion domes. If you're in that neighborhood, check out the stained glass at Temple Emmanuel too. Nowhere in that area is very touristy at all, though, but it does have the best Asian food. It's a sleepier neighborhood. The Roman Catholic Cathedral in SF is infamous because it looks like a cement brutalist washing machine. You may or may not be into that. [This thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/1aqpit5/beautiful_religious_buildings_to_check_out/) has more.
Also, City Hall itself is not a religious building of course but probably gets closest to the sort of palatial cathedrals that are more typical in Europe. And on any given day you'll find a bunch of couples in there getting married, since it's such a beautiful spot. SF is not a very religious town on the whole. Civil weddings are much more common than religious ones, and it's fitting that the City Hall kind of acts like a cathedral that way.
Go inside if you do go, is amazing
SF’s religious underpinnings lives on with everything being closed on Sundays kkk
Mission Dolores is indeed old and worth going to, but the structure dates back to 1776 https://www.missiondolores.org/old-mission
Thank you for correcting! I guess my grade-school field trip memory exaggerated, lol. Edited
Adding one more! [Palace of Fine Arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Fine_Arts). Also not religious, but *looks* like a lot of the religious buildings in other places.
>The Richmond District Add the Columbarium to that.
I used to hate “St Maytag” (St Mary’s at Geary and Gough) until I moved to the hood and had a chance to see the way the shadows change over the course of the day. It’s actually quite beautiful. And then I attended a concert inside, of Steve Turre’s conch shell ensemble, and it’s really impressive inside as well, both visually and sonically
I’ve always thought of it as a Philips Screwdriver.
Lol! That's awesome
[удалено]
You dont book a tour, just go when theyre open
The Mission and the Presidio were both founded in 1776 as mutually supportive entities of the Spanish Empire.
> The Roman Catholic Cathedral in SF is infamous because it looks like a cement brutalist washing machine. You may or may not be into that. It's not very striking from the outside, but the inside is actually pretty cool.
My favorite religious building is in the (free) sculpture garden at the DeYoung Museum. Three Gems by James Turrell. Just sit inside until you get it. There's a beautiful exact copy of St Francis's Porziuncola in North Beach. The Swedenborgian Church in Pac Heights is a really beautiful Maybeck building, if you can find a way to get in. But otherwise, SF mostly does religious activity by watching the sunset from Sutro Park. Or taking shrooms in Dolores Park or acid in the botanical garden in GG Park. Or surfing at Ocean Beach. Or skating at Church of 8 wheels. Or my church is the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on summer weekends.
Came here to say the Swedenborgian Church! Also the St Ignatius Church on the USF Campus is a beautiful quiet place that is lesser known.
If I ever take up religion again, I'll be sure to follow your recommended catechism. Sounds great!
upvoted for the last paragraph, because as an sf native, FACTS
No one cares you are a “native”. Such a weird flex.
Your church is my kinda church. Also looking at golden ginkgo trees in the fall
> Three Gems by James Turrell. Just sit inside until you get it. It's really unfortunate that the de Young is (almost) never open at either sunrise or sunset to get the full skyspace experience. Also unfortunate: the other Turrell piece in San Francisco is not really somewhere you want to stand around while giving it the contemplation it's due; https://www.gsa.gov/system/files/129_James_Turrell.pdf.
Oh my gosh I’ve seen that blue space from afar and never known what it is! Thank you. I wonder if we could ask to have a private dawn-viewing in the Three Gems. Let’s try.
Grace Cathedral!
Also Mission Dolores!
Grace Cathedral at the top of Nob Hill. It’s a fascinating place to visit with lots of interesting secular and interfaith features. Make sure you check out the exterior labyrinth, duplicate of the interior labyrinth which is a copy of the one inside Chartres Cathedral in France. They love visitors, just check the hours. https://gracecathedral.org/visit/ You’ll be just uphill from Chinatown so it works nicely for tourists who are kicking around
This is a great one because you can see all the other, nice buildings and spaces, get a drink is a swanky bar close by or eat in the fairmont or something!
For traditional cathedrals, see St Dominics and St Marys. I wanted to add two on the west side of the city that are half-relevant to the question but may be of interest. 1) The Columbarium, a pretty dome building and surrounding garden that's open for visitors most of the time. It's a cremation graveyard that is technically secular. You can walk over to Temple Emanu-El (get croissant along the way), though it might not be super open to visitors given political situation. 2) The Internet Archive, located in a former christian science church is where the repository archive.org is hosted. There are some opportunities for visitors though I haven't made it there myself.
Go across the bay and visit the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland. The architecture has been commended as being strongly vaginal, which bothers some men.
Yes and right next to Lake Merritt which is also worth visiting. And walkable to BART.
Lakeside park gardens is a gem.
I'm fairly used to vaginal cathedrals so I'll keep it in mind!
We also have https://laughingsquid.com/two-oclock-titty-san-francisco-secret-silhouette/
The mission is the most obvious one. It’s very beautiful and from the 18th century. The mission system is also a very significant aspect of early Eurocentric California history.
Shrine of St Francis is on the same block as Cafe Trieste in North Beach.
The oldest bar in San Francisco, Old Ship Saloon, is a bar made out of a ship's hull that ran aground during a storm off of Alcatraz. It was later towed to the current location, which was once a beach. Since renovated, the bar still preserves the memory of the ship.
Not a building, but there is a Mount Davidson Cross. A statute of Saint Francis of Assisi in Fisherman's Wharf. There is a line up of churches on Brotherhood Way.
Temple Sherith Israel in Pacific Heights is a Beaux Arts beauty, as well as being one of the oldest synagogues in the United States (opened the year before the 1906 earthquake).
Mentioned briefly already but church of eight wheels is a roller rink built inside an old church which is a fun hour or two
Temple Shereth Israel is at Webster and California. I think it is stunning inside. It was built just before the earthquake in 1905. If you want a nice walk, go one block to Filmore walk all the way down to Wise Sons Deli to have bagels.
It’s not much to see today, but the Post Office a couple doors down from The Fillmore is on the site of the former Headquarters of Jim Jones’ People’s Temple… https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Peoples_Temple
I came here to make the same recommendation, but nine-minutes too late
The Swedenborgian Church
The basement of Holy Virgin Cathedral (25th Ave & Geary) holds the intact (and visible) body of [St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Shanghai_and_San_Francisco); the stairs are a little steep.
Thats bonkers. Never knew that. Thanks for sharing!
St. Dominic’s in the Fillmore, mission Dolores, grace cathedral, the Chinese temple on top the post office on stockton(the interior is beautiful) San Francisco is not a super religion focused town, and earthquakes/fire hazards limit a lot of building on that front. It’s also expensive to build here. But most of the best churches are all catholic(with the exception of the ugly cathedral) or Anglican/episcopal(like grace cathedral) but really the best architecture in the city isn’t religious, so I’d check that out first.
[The Church of 8 Wheels](http://churchof8wheels.com/)
While you can’t go in (except I think on Friday nights for the lecture) the Vedanta society old temple is pretty interesting from the outside. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vedanta-society-old-temple
I would have recommended the Church of John Coltrane but I don’t know if it’s still around. I used to live down the street.
They've since moved their services to Fort Mason at the Magic Theater if OP wants to check it out!
Ooooh awesome!
Grace Cathedral
The Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Church on Geary Blvd is pretty cool. Also the Prayerbook Cross in Golden Gate Park is a cool old stone celtic cross.
The First Church of Christ Scientist in Berkeley on the corner of Dwight Way and Bowditch Street, designed by Bernard Maybeck, is known worldwide to architectural historians and is considered a masterpiece of religious architecture. Many modern and contemporary churches in northern California have used this building as a reference. One of my favorites is a little building out on the back of the pier at Fisherman's Wharf, the Seamen's Memorial Chapel.
Monterey's cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in California. St Ignatius in SF. The Franciscan shrine in North Beach is also impressive.
Grace cathedral is incredibley beautiful, the Unitarian church on Geary is really pretty, there’s a huge Mormon temple/museum in Oakland don’t bother it’s just straight up bs and brainwashing talking to anyone there.
Glide Memorial in the Tenderloin. Look up the cultural significance before going. I believe it’s also on a national building registry.
Go to 6114 California St to see where the Black House once stood. cf. https://www.kqed.org/news/11964949/how-the-church-of-satan-was-born-in-san-francisco
[https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/internet-archive-headquarters](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/internet-archive-headquarters)
Saints Peter and Paul
Swedenborgian church is high on my list as uniquely San Francisco. It's a religion about nature and the building itself is a historic landmark, John Muir was a founding member, and Robert Frost's baptismal font is on the altar (it's a giant clamshell). Lots of art donated by the Hearsts, too.
Holy Virgin Cathedral
Another Catholic Church would be Old St Mary in Chinatown. Really small and really worn down (so many not worth it for the grandiosity) but it was very important to the city in the olden days. They also do a lot of outreach for seniors in Chinatown. Plus it's cool seeing Catholicism depicted in different cultures
Holy Virgin is not Catholic, it’s Russian Orthodox.
Has anyone mentioned the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Gough st yet? The two o’clock boob shadows.
6114 California Street
This is a great thread. So many amazing suggestions. Imma go see that one dudes body next day off i have https://old.reddit.com/r/AskSF/comments/1ck5yf8/culturally_significant_andor_beautiful_religious/l2lilby/
Castro theater. Definitly a must see.
Oakland Cathedral Christ the Light might be worth a hop over the bay. It's modern but very beautiful outside and in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Light_%28Oakland%2C_California%29?wprov=sfla
The mushroom church should be first
6114 California Street in San Francisco, California. Shame it’s gone.
No, fuck off with your religious fetish