Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen

Tourists mingle with wedding couples on the Grand Staircase at San Francisco’s City Hall on Tuesday, August 16, 2011. Volunteers for the County Clerk perform up to six weddings an hour near the stairs and the ceremonial rotunda

The majestic stairs to the Ceremonial Rotunda and the Board of Supervisors Chambers were built with economic stimulus money after the previous City Hall was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Designed by graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, the building was constructed in three years — without power tools — opening in 1915. 

Slick Name

Architects call the stone Tennessee pink marble, but geologists would say compacted limestone. Veining from mineral deposits attests to the sedimentary origins of the rock.

For...

The 45 steps are named for Charlotte Shultz, the city’s chief of protocol. Married to former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, she was the state’s chief of protocol under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and has advised mayors on greeting foreign dignitaries for decades.

...and Against

In May 1960, protesters against hearings by the House Un-American Activities Committee crammed the staircase. Police Chief Thomas V. Cahill ordered the crowds blasted with fire hoses; 12 people were hospitalized.

Untimely

A clock designed by Albert Samuels, owner of the jewelry store known as the House of Lucky Wedding Rings, overlooks the stairs. The Roman numeral IV is rendered as IIII.

Unlucky

In 1954, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe were married upstairs in a judge’s chambers. Monroe filed for divorce 274 days later.

Lucky and Timely

Under statues of Adam and Eve, volunteers for the county clerk perform up to six weddings an hour near the stairs and Ceremonial Rotunda. Ceremonies doubled in 2008 to accommodate 18,000 gay and lesbian couples during the nearly four months that same-sex marriage was legal in California. They remain legally wed — unless they’ve divorced.

Rock Steady

During recent renovations, hundreds of rubber and steel pads were inserted into the building’s foundation. In an earthquake, the building should be able to withstand the ground’s moving up to 27 inches.

Above

The exterior of the dome above the stairs is embellished with gold leaf. The dome is higher than the United States Capitol’s; a federal law prohibits a state’s dome — but not a city’s — from exceeding the Capitol’s height.

And Beyond

The building stands on a former cemetery, which once covered about 10 acres in today’s Civic Center area.

This article also appears in the Bay Area edition of The New York Times.