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A Tour Inside Twitter's Stylish New San Francisco Headquarters The building Twitter calls home previously stood vacant for 50 years. See how the social-media company revamped its new headquarters.

By Robert Johnson

This story originally appeared on Business Insider

Robert Johnson for Business Insider

Twitter's corporate headquarters are in San Francisco's gritty Tenderloin district.

It's one of the city's most depressed areas. The hope is that the influx of tech workers there will spur a mini-renaissance of a long-neglected neighborhood.

We visited Twitter in March and were given a tour.

San Francisco's Tenderloin district remained one of the city's most economically depressed areas for generations.

Related: Old Money And Tech Money Go Head-To-Head On San Francisco's Billionaire's Row

This building stood vacant for 50 years before Twitter moved its headquarters here.

With a market capitalization of $27 billion, Twitter is altering the Tenderloin from inside this 1937 Art Deco building. Here's the soaring lobby.

Source: Motley Fool

In a building this old, home to one of the largest tech companies in the world, classic design and modern technology go side by side.

Stepping off the elevator, you get a nature theme. You feel like you're stepping into a huge bird house.

The feeling continues into Twitter's reception area ...

... from the coffee table ...

... to the guest login ...

... to the conference room walls ...

Related: San Francisco's Twitter Employees Must Step Past All These Homeless People To Get To Work

The nature theme is part of Twitter's core identity. These deer have moved with the office from its first location.

Visitors are offered a wide selection of refreshments.

The employee selection is far more vast. In the main cafeteria and lounge, it's about letting the outside in with a wall of windows overlooking a meticulously maintained outdoor space.

Through glass doors from the cafeteria, this outdoor area is a big selling point of Twitter employment.

There are BBQs and parties.

While workers often bring blankets and laptops to the massive lawn space to work outside.

Here is where you get lunch.

Employees have many options here. Each area has a different theme for the food.

And a second dining area with a daily menu.

Employees get a wide array of options for their three-portion bowls.

Many people here brag about the company's selection of Kombucha tea.

Related: All The Amazing Free Food At Facebook's HQ Gives Some Employees The 'Facebook 15' [PHOTOS]

Though there is plenty to brag about when it comes to eating, too.

The options swing toward healthy food.

And lots and lots ...

... of coffee.

Twitter does a nice job combining its urban setting with a relaxing natural feeling within its walls.

Even simple bar tables are beautiful.

The only thing better than working from home is working from someplace nicer than home.

There is only one logo here. From the drink machines ...

... to the company time capsule ...

... to the laptop skins.

There is little chance anyone here forgets the reach of their work.

These screens are found throughout the office and show bursts of Twitter activity across the globe.

As comfortable as the space is, the focus here is definitely on work. There is not much socializing going on.

Different types of work spaces are available for every imaginable style.

Twitter had 241 million active users at the end of 2013.

The company's reach is immense.

And now that it's settled into its new location, Twitter's reach is changing the world right outside its door.

Robert Johnson is Business Insider's Senior Correspondent and the originating Editor of BI Military & Defense

A former U.S. Army non-commissioned officer, Johnson enlisted in the Army prior to 9/11, was injured, and spent his final two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

It was his experience at Walter Reed in 2004 and 2005 that brought him to journalism.

Johnson attended the University of Missouri and New York University.

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