The site of the building was the original location for the
Bank of Italy, founded in 1904 by
A. P. Giannini. It was unusual for women to be philanthropists during this era, and the Columbo building (and Drexler's other commissioned buildings) served as a symbolic path towards in-powering women into independent living.
City College of San Francisco had planned to create the Chinatown campus inside the Colombo Building, as the school had bought the property and neighboring property in the 1990s; but that plan was thwarted by
Aaron Peskin and the Telegraph Hill Dwellers association. == See also ==