Treasure Island – Golden Gate International Exposition – San Francisco CA

City:
San Francisco, CA

Site Type:
Art Works, Civic Facilities, Auxiliary Civic Facilities

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Description

Below is the first official photo view of the Golden Gate International Exhibition a few years prior to its opening in 1939. And apparently based on the photo is the original WPA, 9′ x 6′ oil on canvas mural. Artist unknown.

Source notes

https://www.wpamurals.org/gogateex.html Needs more documentation.

Location Info


Avenue of the Palms
San Francisco, CA 94130
San Francisco County

Location notes: Treasure Island
A WPA allocation of several million dollars funded the reclamation of the exposition site at Yerba Buena Shoal. A PWA program included construction of an administration building, ferry slips, two airplane hangars, an airport terminal building, a ferry terminal, five large exhibition buildings and paving of the site. 45% of the approximately 4 million dollars to accomplish this program came from the PWA, and the Exposition Company contributed 55%. (The Architect and Engineer. May 1936.) More Treasure Island Archive Photos available at https://newdeal.feri.org

Coordinates: 37.821400, -122.37500

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2 comments on “Treasure Island – Golden Gate International Exposition – San Francisco CA

  1. Greg Campbell

    The photo at the top of this page with the caption of “Treasure Island Airport” apparently had the negative reversed for the photo. If you “flip” just the image of the scanned photo from Left to Right – the correct orientation of the harbor is shown. If you flip the entire scanned image – then the text would also be reversed. So… the scan is correct, but just the photo that they scanned was reversed. The cities & hills in the background should include Richmond CA, El Cerrito CA, and Berkeley CA. This view is essentially looking towards the NE and San Francisco was behind the photographer.

  2. The “artist unknown” in that “first official painting” of the GGIE might be Ernest Born. Itlooks like his style–he did a similarly styled painting or drawing of the airport buildings. Did he do any WPA work?

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2 comments on “Treasure Island – Golden Gate International Exposition – San Francisco CA

  1. Greg Campbell

    The photo at the top of this page with the caption of “Treasure Island Airport” apparently had the negative reversed for the photo. If you “flip” just the image of the scanned photo from Left to Right – the correct orientation of the harbor is shown. If you flip the entire scanned image – then the text would also be reversed. So… the scan is correct, but just the photo that they scanned was reversed. The cities & hills in the background should include Richmond CA, El Cerrito CA, and Berkeley CA. This view is essentially looking towards the NE and San Francisco was behind the photographer.

  2. The “artist unknown” in that “first official painting” of the GGIE might be Ernest Born. Itlooks like his style–he did a similarly styled painting or drawing of the airport buildings. Did he do any WPA work?

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

Your email address will not be published, shared, or sold.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.