Lower playground, Bernal Recreation Center - San Francisco CA
Description
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Bernal Recreation Center in San Francisco in 1939-1940. It sits just behind and below the Bernal Heights Public Library.
Work consisted of excavating and grading 1,492 cubic yards of rock and soil, building 75 feet of rubble wall (18 inches by 4 feet), and paving 16,000 square feet of playgr0und area.
Notably, the report on WPA work in San Francisco made a point that the combination of the library and playground on the same property was .”… combining the benefits of physical and mental recreation.(Healy, p. 64).
The WPA built rock walls are still visible above and below the playground.
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Lower playground, Bernal Recreation Center - San Francisco CA
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Upper playground, Bernal Recreation Center - San Francisco CA
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Side of Bernal Height Library, showing slope down to recreation area - San Francisco CA
Project Details
| Federal Cost | Local Cost | Total Cost | Project #'s |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12797 |
Source notes
Healy, Clyde E., San Francisco Improved: Report of Clyde E. Healy, Assistant City Engineer - City of San Francisco and Coordinator of W.P.A. Projects, Period October 10, 1935 to August 31, 1939. San Francisco : [s.n.]., 1939.
William Mooser, Jr., Report on Progress of the Works Program in San Francisco. January, 1938. Works Progress Administration. [San Francisco 1938]
Project originally submitted by Gray Brechin on June 17, 2010.
Additional contributions by Richard Walker.
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