Thursday · September · 17 · 2026
DST“Patience and diligence, like faith, remove mountains.”
— William Penn
Sun & daylight
The sun rises at 06:54 and sets at 19:16 in San Francisco today, giving 12h 22m of daylight. Solar noon is at 13:05.
06:54
Sunrise
13:05
Noon
19:16
Sunset
Midnight
01:05
Sunrise
06:54
Solar noon
13:05
Sunset
19:16
Solar midnight
01:05
Daylight
12h 22m
Daylight runs about 14h 46m around the June solstice and 9h 32m around the December solstice.
Daylight saving time
San Francisco observes daylight saving time. In 2026, clocks move forward to UTC−7 on March 8 and move back to UTC−8 on November 1. San Francisco is currently on daylight saving time.
Mar 8
Forward · UTC−7
Nov 1
Back · UTC−8
Sep 17
Today
The shaded band marks the daylight saving period.
Public holidays
United States has 1 public holiday in September 2026.
Architecture
San Francisco laid a grid over hills it then ignored, and rebuilt twice — after 1906, and again when the waterfront freeway came down. Its museums have carried most of the recent architectural argument.
Completed 2016
Snøhetta
An extension behind Mario Botta's 1995 museum, roughly tripling the gallery space. Snøhetta clad it in fibre-reinforced polymer panels rippled to catch the fog light, cast from moulds taken of the bay's surface. The addition steps back so the older brick building keeps the street front to itself. A public stair runs through the ground floor and reconnects two streets the block had separated.
Completed 2008
Renzo Piano
A natural history museum, aquarium and planetarium in Golden Gate Park. Renzo Piano covered it with a living roof that bulges into hills over the spherical volumes below, planted with native species and pierced by skylights that open to ventilate. The roof takes its shape from the programme beneath rather than from the park around it. Four institutions that had been separate buildings were rebuilt as one section.
Completed 2007
Morphosis
A government office tower south of Market. Morphosis built eighteen storeys of naturally ventilated offices with windows that open under computer control, behind a perforated stainless steel screen folded across the south face. The lifts stop only every third floor, which forces people onto the stairs. It was built to prove that a tall office building in this climate does not need sealed air conditioning.
Completed 2005
Herzog & de Meuron
A museum in Golden Gate Park, rebuilt after the 1989 earthquake damaged the previous building. Herzog & de Meuron clad it in copper perforated and dimpled in a pattern derived from photographs of the tree canopy, left to oxidise toward the colour of the park. A twisting tower rises from one end and turns to align with the city grid as it goes up. The copper was expected to change for a decade, so the building was designed for a colour it did not yet have.
Completed 1972
William Pereira
An office tower in the financial district, tapering to a point. William Pereira used the taper so the tower would cast a narrower shadow and let light reach the streets, and pushed the lift shafts into two wings that break out of the slope. It was opposed for years as an intrusion on the skyline and then became the emblem of it. The upper sixty metres are a hollow spire with no floors in them at all.