3D & Generative · Sep 22, 2026

1906 San Francisco Market Street rebuilt in Blender

1906 San Francisco Market Street rebuilt in Blender by Alex Albert. Watch the 3d & generative video, explore the shared prompt and visit the original X post.

Alex Albert@alexalbert__
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Opus 5.5 · creator-reported
From the creator

The prompt behind it.

This work also used reference images, audio or other inputs.

Original prompt
Recreate Market Street, San Francisco as it stood on April 17, 1906, the afternoon before the earthquake, in Blender.

Scope: the Ferry Building up Market to Fifth Street, including the Palace Hotel, the Call Building, the Chronicle Building, Lotta's Fountain and the Emporium.

Before modeling anything, build a source file from: the 1899-1905 Sanborn fire insurance maps (footprints, heights, materials, occupants), the Miles Brothers film "A Trip Down Market Street" (April 1906), period photographs from OpenSFHistory, the Library of Congress and the David Rumsey collection, and USGS topography. Record every building with footprint, height, facade material, occupant, and the source for each fact with a confidence level.

Build everything in Blender Python. No downloaded meshes, textures or HDRIs. Write reusable generators (Victorian commercial facade, mansard roof, bay windows, awnings, painted signage, gas and electric street lamps, cable car, horse-drawn wagon, early automobile) and assemble the street from the source file, so every building traces back to data.

Provide a 10 second video up the street.

Video and prompt by Alex Albert. Original post ↗ · Prompt source ↗ · Prompt archive ↗