The sweatiest my palms have ever been was about a quarter of the way up the spire of the Transamerica Pyramid, looking through a set of open metal sta

Exclusive: The Transamerica Pyramid’s renovation is underway. We got a peek from the top

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2024-05-07 03:30:07

The sweatiest my palms have ever been was about a quarter of the way up the spire of the Transamerica Pyramid, looking through a set of open metal stairs to the floor 50 feet below.

From sidewalk level, San Francisco’s most famous building seems like any other high-rise—a different shape, sure, but a vertical cubicle farm all the way up. That’s not the case staring down from the summit. The elevators only run to the 48th floor, just below the top of the pyramid’s “shoulders,” those broad, blocky fins approximately 600 feet above the street.

The east shoulder contains an elevator bank. The west shoulder functions as a ventilation shaft. It’s an enormous void, a little like a chasm on the Death Star. When a team of three from The Standard got a guided tour that went all the way to the pyramid’s beacon, the railing next to that abyss was essentially base camp.

To get to the top, we climbed 10 terrifying sets of stairs—and then a ladder that’s followed by another ladder. The spire’s “walls,” we learned, are translucent plastic cladding that’s more or less open to the elements. That means on foggy days, the steps and railings become slick with moisture.