1906 San Francisco Market Street rebuilt in Blender

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.

Make one like this

1. 1 · Copy the prompt

   Use the prompt above as your starting point, then change the subject and the style.

2. 2 · Direct it like an editor

   Ask for one self-contained HTML file on a fixed 1920×1080 stage, link this video as the reference, and send two or three rounds of specific notes.

3. 3 · Render it to MP4

   Screen-record a short piece, or capture it frame by frame for exact timing. How →