Autumn in San Francisco.(Current and coming)(de Young Museum)(San Francisco Fall Antiques Show)

As Mark Twain observed in a letter to the Virginia City, Nevada, newspaper Territorial Enterprise in December 1865: "San Francisco is a city of startling events." This autumn, when the spectacular weather alone draws visitors, two events in dramatic settings will make a visit even more worthwhile. After being closed for the better part of five years, the de Young Museum of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, located in Golden Gate Park overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge, inaugurates its new building on October 15. And on October 27 the San Francisco Fall Antiques Show opens at what is arguably the most beautiful setting of any fair in this country--a pier on San Francisco Bay.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Following the earthquake of 1989, the de Young Museum was declared seismically unstable, and even after the installation of steel support beams to shore up the Spanish style building, the museum was, in 1997, deemed ineligible for indemnities granted to museums by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. This assistance is crucial to offset the enormous costs involved in holding large international loan exhibitions. The museum's place in the art world was sadly diminished and the preservation of its permanent collection was at risk.

The next two years were spent identifying a suitable architect for a new building, and, after approving a master plan in 1999, the board of trustees launched a major capital campaign to underwrite its implementation.

The new structure, designed by the Swiss firm of Herzog and de Meuron, with the assistance of the local firm Fong and Chan Architects, consists of 293,000 square feet and has more than twice as much exhibition space as the old building. Yet because the building is on three floors, its footprint is nearly 40 percent smaller than that of the former building. The designs for the property around the museum, which includes a sculpture garden and a children's garden, were conceived by the landscape architect Walter Hood of Oakland, California.

The exterior of the building is sheathed in embossed and perforated copper panels. According to the architects, the metal skin, which is hung in front of the glass structure like a curtain of medieval mail, will initially fade to reddish brown and then, after about ten years, it will take on a verdigris patina. At its west end, is a twisted tower in which educational programming will take place. It also contains an enclosed observation floor that offers breathtaking views of the city and bay. Inside, the lower level houses temporary exhibition space, storage, and technical support ...