It covers 7.5 acres (3 hectares) in the Civic Center Historic District, and totals 7,500 seats among its venues.

Opera, symphony, modern and classical dance, theatre, recitals, plays, lectures, meetings, receptions, special screenings, and gala events all have a place and occur at the Center.

The complex was developed in the 1920s on two blocks on Van Ness Avenue facing San Francisco City Hall from the west.

It was designed by Arthur Brown Jr in 1927-1928, and is one of the last Beaux-Arts style structures erected in the United States.

[2] In 1980 the new Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall opened, on a site on Van Ness across the sidestreet from the Opera House, as part of the SFWMPAC complex.