Ingleside Terraces Sundial San Francisco

Largest in the US

Kathleen from San Francisco

"The "Ingleside Terraces Sundial" in San Francisco is the largest sundial in the US. It's more than 100 years old & still tells the time very accurately..."

Built in 1912 in the Ingleside district of San Francisco, the Ingleside Terraces Sundial came in at 28 feet tall and 34 feet wide and was thought to be the largest sundial in the world. It was in the United States for sure, but not the world.

Ingleside Terraces hadn’t been built yet, so there were no houses around to obscure the view. But rather than celebrating the completion during the daylight hours to show off what the sundial could do, the celebration was held at night so more people could attend.

Today, 109 years later, the sundial is in the middle of a beautiful, quiet, and relatively affluent neighborhood called, you guessed it, Ingleside Terraces. The sundial itself was constructed using marble and concrete and is still very well maintained, making it a rather stunning sight to behold.

It has roman numerals painted around the base and still tells the time accurately to within one minute. It’s pointed to the geographical north (the north pole) and calibrated to the winter solstice. Surrounded by beautiful white classical columns and benches that face southwest, northwest, northeast, and southeast, it’s a lovely place to spend some time in solitude.

Given that it’s located in one of the foggiest areas of the city, you may or may not be able to “see” the time, but it’s still worth the trip to witness the spectacle that is the Ingleside Terraces Sundial.

Art & culture

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San Francisco Spotter Kathleen

About me Born on an American Army base in Germany, I came to the states when I was six months old and my parents were stationed back home at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, where I spent my entire childhood. Little did I know that the military lifestyle was going to become what inspired me to become an artist. I have been a photographer for most of my life. Whether I knew it or not is another story. I picked up my first camera at the age of eight and became - much to the chagrin of my strict parents - the family voyeur. Often my dad would tell me that what I was doing was ...

About this spot

Entrada Court at Borica Street

US$

free

Website

4156611000

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Oct 21, 2025

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