 The skyscraper at 100 McAllister began in 1920 with a plan formulated by Reverend Walter John Sherman to merge four of the largest Methodist Episcopal congregations in San Francisco , sell their various churches and properties and combine their assets to build a " <unk> " with a hotel on top of it . From their initial $ 800 @,@ 000 they bought property at McAllister and <unk> streets and hired the architectural firm of Miller and Pflueger to design the edifice . Timothy L. Pflueger was chosen as the designer . The new hotel , intended to be " dry " ( serving no alcoholic <unk> ) in the " sinful " city , was to be named after William Taylor , a Methodist Episcopal street preacher and missionary who formed the first Methodist church in San Francisco . The large church was named Temple Methodist Episcopal Church , or simply " Temple Methodist " . 
