Frank Lloyd Wright’s design at 140 Maiden Lane, pictured on Jan. 26, 2024, was unlike other retail shops at the time of its construction. John Waters, the preservations program manager for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, likened the entrance to a “vault.”
The only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building in San Francisco is accessible only with an appointment. The building is currently home to Isaia, a menswear boutique where Mayor Willie Brown buys his suits.
Tarek Hafez, the director of client Experience at ISAIA, said running a store that sits in a historic landmark presents its fair share of challenges. “To enjoy the building, we have to sacrifice,” he told The Examiner.
The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building at 140 Maiden Lane shares features with other Wright buildings, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York. “They’re very much tied together,” Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy preservations program manager John Waters said.
The men’s clothing store ISAIA, the interior of which is pictured on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, sits inside San Francisco’s only building designed by the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Tarek Hafez, the director of client Experience at ISAIA, said running a store that sits in a historic landmark presents its fair share of challenges. “To enjoy the building, we have to sacrifice,” he told The Examiner.
A building with a brick facade sits on a Union Square side street, offering little clue as to what lies inside, except for a small sign declaring “appointments only” and a red tile with a scribbled etching in the lower left corner.
The latter is the signature of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The building, known as the V.C. Morris Gift Shop, is his only fully realized design in San Francisco.
The building’s current patron is the high-end Italian menswear boutique Isaia, which is frequented by arguably one of the most fashionable men in The City — former Mayor Willie Brown.
“He (Brown) comes here every other week — not always to shop,” said Tarek Hafez, the director of client experience for Isaia’s 140 Maiden Lane location. “He comes to make sure that we’re good and just say hello.”
Hafez, who called Brown “one of the best-dressed politicians who ever lived,” has worked in the Wright building for all but one of the six years Isaia has called it home. He has grown to love the building, despite the quirks associated with operating out of a historic landmark.
“We were very careful to keep the dignity intact on the building itself,” he said. “Other than what’s original in the building, all our fixtures are away from the wall. That’s not traditional.”
Nothing on display is attached to the walls, as Isaia isn’t allowed to drill holes.
Maintaining the landmark is a labor of love, too. Cleaning the fragile bubbled-glass ceiling requires Hafez to shut down the store for two full days.
“Nothing comes easy,” he said. “To enjoy the building, we have to sacrifice.”
The men’s clothing store ISAIA, the interior of which is pictured on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, sits inside San Francisco’s only building designed by the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Craig Lee/The Examiner
Many of the building’s visitors don’t come for the clothes, but for its historical and architectural significance. Designed in 1948, the V.C. Morris Gift Shop contains similar elements to Wright’s design for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, including a spiral walkway.
The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building at 140 Maiden Lane shares features with other Wright buildings, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York. “They’re very much tied together,” Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy preservations program manager John Waters said.
Craig Lee/The Examiner
Design sensibility is where the similarities end, as Waters noted the gift shop is a “major renovation” of a previously existing building and not original construction.
Initially built in 1911, the building was acquired around 1937 by V.C. and Lillian Morris to house their high-end shop, which Waters said sold silverware and dishware, among other items. They had previously commissioned Wright for two residential designs near Cliff House, neither of which came to fruition.
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The couple asked him to design their store in either 1946 or 1947, according to San Francisco Planning Department history. Wright completed the drawings in 1948, and construction was finished the following year.
Wright’s design was markedly different from retail shops at the time, and it still stands out today. The majority of its facade is a brick wall, with a small, arched brick-and-glass entrance that Waters called a “vault.”
“I think you could say the exterior was intended to intrigue people,” Waters said. “Retail is always about manipulation.”
Frank Lloyd Wright’s design at 140 Maiden Lane, pictured on Jan. 26, 2024, was unlike other retail shops at the time of its construction. John Waters, the preservations program manager for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, likened the entrance to a “vault.”
Craig Lee/The Examiner
The City designated the building a historic landmark in 1975, amending it 41 years later to include the interior.
Despite the landmark status, the building isn’t easily accessible to walk-in visitors. Hafez, Isaia’s director of client experience in the Wright-designed building, said the store struggles sometimes with balancing the needs of customers and history-seeking tourists.
“We used to have an enormous amount of architects coming to visit,” said Hafez. “We were happy to accommodate them, but it was too much to the point that it was interrupting the business in a big way.”
Rick Evans, a historical architecture tour guide in San Francisco, ran into the problem head-on last year when he said a group of about 20 Japanese businessmen, all fans of Wright, were eager to go inside.
“Out of 22 buildings I talk about in San Francisco, that was the only one they wanted to talk about,” he recalled.
The only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building in San Francisco is accessible only with an appointment. The building is currently home to Isaia, a menswear boutique where Mayor Willie Brown buys his suits.
Craig Lee/The Examiner
Despite reaching out to the store both via email and in person, only two people on the tour could enter — and they were expected to make purchases. A pair of participants left the experience excited and with new neckties in their possession.
“When they come to San Francisco, that’s where they go,” said Evans, who had been inside 140 Maiden Lane in one of its prior iterations, of Wright’s fans around the world. “They knock on the door and see it’s not available. It’s so disappointing.”
Hafez said he understood visitors’ disappointment, but he argued the policy was a matter of safety for the business.
“It’s still a little bit dangerous to have so many people in the building at the same time, because of security issues for the team,” he said. “We’re just being cautious.”
But if people are near Union Square and want to take a peek, Hafez said they can make an appointment at Isaia.
“If it works with our calendar, we’ll take care of it,” he said, without noting whether they would be required to buy something. “I love to show and tell about this place.”
