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Hide Search OptionsDate added: October 5, 2010; Modified: March 6, 2024
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped build the Sunset Playground in 1937-1940, working with the San Francisco Recreation Department. The playground included a field house plus volleyball, basketball and tennis courts. “In 1937, the three-acre site at 29th Avenue and… read more
Date added: July 22, 2013; Modified: February 20, 2024
The former Rincon Annex post office (now Rincon Center) has an extraordinary set of murals, 27 large panels along the upper wall of the lobby of the old post office. They tell the “History of California” from the Spanish conquest of… read more
Date added: February 14, 2014; Modified: January 15, 2024
These two 12′ x 8′ tempera fresco murals painted by Frederick Olmsted reside in the front lobby of San Francisco City College’s Science Building over the west entrance stairs. Two murals depict students engaged in scientific research. Muted earth tones… read more
Date added: October 5, 2010; Modified: December 22, 2023
Helen Wills Park was improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935-36. The WPA relief workers regraded the park, paved the tennis courts and playground area, and repainted the recreation center. The park was established in 1915 as the… read more
Date added: July 21, 2013; Modified: December 7, 2023
A huge 14′ x 125′ glazed tile mural, “Sea Forms,” was created by African American sculptor Sargent Johnson in 1939-40 for the bathhouse of the former San Francisco Aquatic Park, built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was funded… read more
Date added: December 11, 2018; Modified: December 7, 2023
The Blue Room is one of the original dining areas in the San Francisco Aquatic Park bathhouse, constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building is now the visitors center for the National Maritime Historical Park. The building architects… read more
Date added: July 21, 2013; Modified: December 7, 2023
African American sculptor Sargent Johnson created a 30 x 14 foot frieze of incised green slate on the exterior of the entrance to the visitor’s center of the National Maritime Historical Park in San Francisco, California. The work,… read more
Date added: July 21, 2013; Modified: December 7, 2023
Hilaire Hiler created the massive 10′ x 100′ mural entitled “Lost Continents of Atlantis and Mu” that covers all four walls of the main entrance hall at the visitors center of the National Maritime Historical Park. It is a fantastic… read more
Date added: July 21, 2013; Modified: December 7, 2023
Charles Nunemaker painted a 6′ x 32′ oil-on-canvas mural called “Sepia Seascape” for the women’s bathroom on the second floor of the visitors center at the Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California. The mural was completed in… read more
Date added: December 7, 2023
The oil-on-plaster “Prismatarium” mural at the National Maritime Historical Park visitors center was designed by Hilaire Hiler to give “striking demonstrations on the relationship of color and light.” It represents Hiler’s fascination with color and his idea that he had… read more
Date added: June 17, 2010; Modified: December 7, 2023
The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was originally the San Francisco Aquatic Park, created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936-1939. The 32 acre park included a lagoon and a bathhouse. The lagoon was ringed by breakwaters, with… read more
Date added: July 21, 2013; Modified: December 7, 2023
Richard Ayer create two artworks on the third floor of the visitors center (former Aquatic Park bathhouse) at the Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California. One is a bas relief “Nautical Abstractions” is composed of paint on plaster… read more
Date added: July 21, 2013; Modified: December 7, 2023
Beniamino Bufano’s brown granite sculptures of a seal and a frog were completed in 1942 with the help of Federal Art Project (FAP) funds. They sit on the bayside exterior porch of the visitors center.
Date added: October 6, 2023; Modified: October 7, 2023
The Works Progress Administration and the Federal Works Agency funded and built the South American Tropical Rainforest and Aviary at the San Francisco Zoo in 1940. The structure was originally an aquatic birdhouse. Now it serves as an aviary.
Date added: July 30, 2011; Modified: July 24, 2023
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve many roads in San Francisco, including the stretch of 25th Ave. between Fulton St. and El Camino del Mar.