I wonder how far up on the fire escape on the left you could've climbed before the entire facade would've fallen down, carrying you with it?

What a simply magnificent photograph when viewed at full resolution -- just fantastic. Thanks for posting the comparison shot as well, I love to see how the sites look today.

The gents admiring the rubble a quite a bit more nattily dressed than you'd find these days.

when a facade was a facade! They could really build 'em.

That's where I'll be hanging out in the next big one. Seems like it helped out structurally. Even those farther up the street.

The Fire Escapes with no building attached to them any more, how many people were in those rooms when they collapsed!?

[Fire destroyed most of these buildings. I would bet that most of them had emptied out by the time they started burning. - Dave]

This is the same view up Stockton Street today, taken 104 years after the earthquake and fire. Not surprisingly, there's not a single structure surviving from the 1906 photograph. Most of these ruins were demolished and used for landfill along San Francisco's bay shore.

The spires of burnt-out Temple Emanu-El, rising above the ruins at center, have been replaced by a 1930's skyscraper named simply "450 Sutter." Its art deco bulk is the tallest feature on the right side of today's street view.

I see at least two fire hose connection manifolds such as the one prominent atop the wall at upper left, apparently not of much use in this case! Fire department had been complaining about low water pressure for some time prior to the disaster.

The impressive twin towered building on the right side of the street is the ruined Sutter Street Synagogue, the home of Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco's pioneer Jewish congregation. The vaguely Moorish Revival style building was built in 1866.

Up there on the seventh floor. Pity the firefighters never got to use it.