For the first time ever, one of San Francisco 's most iconic buildings has just been listed for sale. The Transatlantic Pyramid, the city's unmistakable triangular-shaped skyscraper, has been put up for sale for a reported $600 million by its owner, the Transamerica Corporation, which has owned it since it was first built.

Designed by American architect William Pereira, the 48-story Brutalist-style building stands at 853 feet tall. From its inception in 1972 until 2018, it was the tallest building in San Francisco, but it has since been surpassed by the newly constructed Salesforce Tower. When it was first built, the Transamerica Pyramid was ridiculed for its irregular shape, but over decades it has become one of the Golden City's most iconic buildings, and a defining shape in the city's skyline. Its tapered pyramid figure was requested by Transamerica's then CEO, John Beckett, who opted for a shape that would allow as much light as possible to hit the streets below. At the time, the city's top urban planner called the building's proposal "an inhumane creation," while an architecture critic at The Washington Post called it "a second-class world's fair Space Needle." But decades later, local paper SFGate would go on to write that "with each year that passes, the integrity of Pereira's design grows more compelling. It is a strong architectural vision executed with simplicity and care."

"Right now, San Francisco has a very robust office real-estate market," says Transamerica's chief administrative officer, Jay Orlandi, in a statement, of the company's move to put the iconic structure on the market. In addition to the pyramid, two additional buildings on Sansome Street are included in the deal. Last year the company attempted to sell only part of the building, but when no one stepped forward, the decision was made to list the entire property.