Columbo Building Original Bank Of Italy San Francisco 1 Editorial Image

A.P. Giannini founded his Bank of Italy on this site in 1904, in a former saloon. When the earthquake and fire of 1906 hit, Giannini took all of the banks assets, including $80,000 in gold, the equivalent of $2,638,293.33 today, hidden under cart of fruits and vegitables of a horse drawn cart, and took it to his home down in San Mateo for safe keeping.And safe it was, the bank burned down to the ground.And, since his money was now safe, he was able to keep loaning out to his customers, which kept their faith in his bank. Many other banks in the area did not fair so well, as their assets were either lost, or stuck in badly damaged buildings.This new building, the Columbo Building, opened in 1913.