In its 125 years, San Francisco’s Ferry Building has dodged many a disaster. Opening in 1898 as a depot for ferry riders, the waterfront complex survived earthquakes, fires and functional obsolescence to emerge as a beloved civic landmark; the building, with its distinctive 245-foot-tall clock tower, remains a “shorthand for the city by the bay,” as urban design critic John King writes in his new book, Portal: San Francisco’s Ferry Building and the Reinvention of American Cities.

At its peak in 1930, 47 million passengers passed through the building’s arched arcade, crossing the bay on a fleet of 43 ferries. After cars became king and boat traffic tumbled, King shows how the giant structure became a “void” that “existed to be filled.” A series of plans to abandon, redefine or replace it ensued, as equal and opposite forces rallied to preserve its legacy.