The cathedral is known for its murals by Jan Henryk De Rosen, a replica of Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise, two labyrinths, varied stained glass windows, Keith Haring AIDS chapel altarpiece, Our Lady of the Flowers by David LaChapelle, and medieval and contemporary furnishings, as well as its forty-four bell carillon, three organs, and choirs.

[6] Prominent members of San Francisco society joined the parish in the third church, including Leland Stanford and William Henry Crocker.

[3] In 1865, Mark Twain published (in The Californian newspaper) purported private correspondence between himself and potential short-term rectors,[7][8] satirizing the church's somewhat unsuccessful efforts to find a short-term rector in the 1860s and 1870s, "stating" that he had written to one New York priest who had already turned down Grace's offer of $7,000 per year (equivalent to $144,000 in 2024): "A word in your ear: say nothing to anybody - keep dark - but just pack up your traps and come along out here...

[3] The family of railroad baron and banker William Henry Crocker donated the site of their ruined Nob Hill property (on the block bounded by California, Jones, Sacramento, and Taylor) for a diocesan cathedral,[11] which took its name and founding congregation from the nearby Grace parish.

[3] The cathedral was designed in English Gothic style by George Frederick Bodley in London, who died in 1907, with Lewis P. Hobart of San Francisco completing the plans thereafter.

[3] Grace Cathedral remained in this state, with a large vacant space between the partial section of nave and the single bell tower, for the next 17 years.

[3] On March 28, 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a sermon at Grace Cathedral as part of the festival celebrating its completion and consecration.

[14] On a smaller scale, De Rosen painted exquisite panels for the original old high altar which is now in the Chapel of St. Francis columbarium.

The most visible works of De Rosen in Grace Cathedral are the historical aisle murals that were painted in 1949 and 1950 and composed in a style blending elements of the early Italian masters Giotto and Mantegna.

[15] In 1943, the Nazi occupation government ordered the original doors to be removed from the Florence baptistery, along with other portable artworks, to protect them from bombing and possibly to give Hermann Göring a chance to add them to his collection.

[15][16] The original Ghiberti doors are no longer installed in the baptistery as corrosion and weathering led conservators to decide that they must be preserved in a museum under a totally dry and controlled atmosphere.

[10]: 28 Contained in the cathedral are 7,290 square feet (677 m2) of stained glass windows by noted artists that depict over 1100 figures ranging from Adam and Eve to Albert Einstein.

[19] The cathedral also contains 24 faceted windows by Gabriel Loire of Chartres, France, including the Human Endeavor series depicting John Glenn, Thurgood Marshall, Jane Addams, Robert Frost, and Einstein.

Although a Methodist, he vowed to provide bells for the church and eventually spent his life savings to realize his dream and to erect the Singing (north) Tower to house them.

The bells arrived before the cathedral tower was completed, so they spent their first years on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay as the centerpiece of the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition.

The bells have been rung to mark a number of important events, including D-Day and the centenary of the San Francisco cable car system.

Anonymous gift, 2022 Inspired by the Virgin Mary, this work by the American photographer David LaChapelle celebrates faith and positivity in humanity.

It recounts a New Year's Eve experience in which the singer and his sullen (presumably grieving) female companion visit the church to light candles.

[27] Armistead Maupin's 1978–2014 Tales of the City book series has an Episcopal cannibal cult operating out of Grace Cathedral as one of its sub-plots.