New York and Chicago get most of the attention, but San Francisco boasts some of America's best skyscrapers -- and has done so for more than a century. Long before the light shows atop Salesforce Tower, the Bay Area has been graced with innovative tall buildings testing the limits of technology.
The business leaders who dreamed them up and funded their construction are largely forgotten now. Yet they were the kind of risk-takers and larger-than-life characters who symbolize the California spirit, and their amazing stories offer lessons for us still today. Mark Houser breathes life back into their tales with memorable detail and evocative imagery.
See historic Bay Area skyscrapers in a new light and learn fascinating facts to impress your friends and colleagues.
Discover the inspirational tales of the tycoons and architects who teamed up to create these architectural legacies.
Take a tour of tall towers across America, including many places you might never expect to look.
Mark Houser is an author, professional speaker, and journalist who shares surprising and inspirational stories about the men and women behind America's landmark skyscrapers.
Houser's first book, MultiStories, focused on the world's first skyscrapers, still standing today in 36 cities in the United States and abroad. His latest book, Highrises Art Deco, is a collaboration with digital artist Chris Hytha that pairs tales of Jazz Age skyscrapers like the Chrysler Building with dazzling drone-scanned images that reveal details that can't be seen from the sidewalk.
Houser has shared his skyscraper stories with audiences at the Art Deco Society of New York, Chicago Architecture Center, Skyscraper Museum, California State University, New York Landmarks Conservancy, and more venues and organizations across the country. Over 2,000 people have taken Houser's skyscraper rooftop tours in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
A national award-winning former reporter and editor at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and a veteran public relations and marketing professional, Mark has appeared on CNN, Fox News, NPR, and in the New Yorker. His website is HouserTalks.com.