Timothy L. Pflueger - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Timothy L. Pflueger died suddenly at the age of 54 on November 20, 1946 of a heart attack on Post Street outside of the Olympic Club after taking his usual evening swim. At his death, Pflueger was not finished with the radical interior and exterior transformation of the I. Magnin flagship store at Union Square, a sleek International design that remained influential for years afterward.

All his adult life, Pflueger maintained his residence at his childhood home on Guerrero Street. When entertaining downtown late into the evening, he was known to spend an occasional night at the Olympic Club. Pflueger drove a green Cadillac convertible and was often seen with his steady lady friend on his arm. Pflueger never married and left no children. His brother Milton, fifteen years younger, had been working with the firm since the 1930s and, at Tim's death, Milton reorganized and headed the company, doing business as Milton T. Pflueger, Architect.

In 1990, a bas-relief of influential San Franciscans was sculpted over the facade of 235 Pine Street, a 26-story skyscraper. Timothy L. Pflueger was the only architect among those memorialized. In 2008, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to change the name of Chelsea Place, a small alley leading to the garage of the 450 Sutter Street building, to Timothy Pflueger Place.