The hotel was named in honor of William Taylor, a Methodist missionary who served in San Francisco during the California gold rush.

In the late 1930s the building housed the Empire Hotel, known for its Sky Room lounge, then from World War II to the 1970s, 100 McAllister served as U.S. government offices.

[6] The skyscraper at 100 McAllister began in 1920 with a plan formulated by Reverend Walter John Sherman to merge four of the largest Methodist Episcopal congregations in San Francisco, sell their various churches and properties and combine their assets to build a "superchurch" with a hotel on top of it.

[8] Beginning in 1925, Pflueger designed a 308 ft (94 m), 28-story, step-back skyscraper made of brick framed with steel, along the lines of his just-completed Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company Building.

[10] A stained glass window was placed 80 feet above the sanctuary, representing Faith, Love and Hope in three tall, narrow panels.

Unfortunately for the congregation, the idea of a hotel above a church didn't attract the requisite number of guests and the venture failed to turn a profit.

[10] The three-piece stained glass window was removed and exhibited, eventually making its way to Stockton, California where it was installed in the Morris Chapel at the University of the Pacific.

[1][12] With plush carpeting, a large Art Deco-style oval bar, and plate glass windows on all sides, the Sky Room provided a panoramic view of the city.

[9] Architect & Engineer wrote of the luxurious bar in April, 1938, that it "has no prototype west of New York",[13] referring to Manhattan's Rainbow Room which opened three-and-a-half years earlier.

Occupancy at 100 McAllister was low, though the United States Army Corps of Engineers moved their San Francisco District offices there in the 1960s,[14] and local draftees were still required to appear there through the late 1960s.

In 1978, the University of California, Hastings College of the Law bought the building, the most prominent in the Tenderloin district,[13] and began two years of refurbishment and redesign.

[12] The Great Hall remains un-refurbished and has been judged by UC Hastings to be in need of substantial repair and improvement, including major architectural engineering work.