San Francisco Sites

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 representation of sea life that captures the imagination of visitors to this day. The method of painting was  "wax-emulsion variation of the Gambier-Parry spirit fresco process."   To save time Hiler began the work on canvas and carried it as far as possible before installation on the lobby walls.  Hiler was assisted by artists Lawrence Holmberg, Richard Ayer and Thomas Dowley. The...

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 found the perfect color palette. It covers the walls and ceiling of a circular room on the west side of the building. Originally, the light fixture revolved. Several other artists worked under Hiler on this mural, which was completed in 1939 and paid for by Federal Art Project (FAP) funds.  This and other murals in the building have been restored by the National...

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, "Sea Form Marquee," was completed in 1939 and paid for by the Federal Art Project (FAP).   Johnson also created a 3′ x 5′ ceramic lintel bas relief on the 4th floor, above the door to the "Radio Room."   The building was built as the bathhouse of the San Francisco Aquatic Park, built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936-39.

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 by the Federal Art Project (FAP). It sits on the bayside balcony/terrace of what is now the visitors center for the National Maritime Historical Park. The mural is partially incomplete because Johnson and other artist's walked off the job in protest against the city's plans to install a private restaurant in a public building.  

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 1940 with Federal Art Project (FAP) funds.   The San Francisco Aquatic Park was originally created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), 1936-39.

Constructed playground, 3 tennis courts and convenience station and built retaining walls to hold the ground in place because of steep slope. Fenced the entire area. This was an unsightly lot.--Healy, p. 63.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed San Francisco's O'Shaughnessy Boulevard. Consisted of work necessary to complete the grading and underground drainage for a 60 foot boulevard around the west side of Glen Park Reservoir site and Glen Park, involving the removal of 87,716 cubic yards red rock, surfacing 16,000 square feet, raising 5 brick manholes, excavating 20,550 cubic yards earth and rock and replacing same in embankment for extension. When completed it will be a connecting link between the point where Twin Peaks Boulevard and Portola Drive meet and San Jose, Bernal Avenue and Route 101.--Healy, pp. 43-44.

The WPA worked on Oak St. all the way from Franklin St. to Stanyan.

(10.28 Acres) Plymouth Avenue and Lobos Street. Graded 6,000 cubic yards, built concrete and rubble walls and paths, gutters, tennis courts, water system, landscaped 9 acres. A large convenience station was built which is to become a part of a club house that is planned for the future.--Healy, p. 64.

The WPA worked on Otis St. between Duboce and 12th St.

The WPA worked on Palo Alto Ave. in San Francisco.

Cost $940,271 from point near 25th Avenue to 14th Avenue and Fulton. Work consisted of excavation and fill, construction of sub-base and surfacing; building red rock paths and planting center strip, reinforced concrete retaining wall and concrete curb, installing irrigation and drainage and lighting systems, planting and seeding. It provides a cross-over thru Golden Gate Park connecting 19th Avenue on Southerly side of Golden Gate Park with 25th Avenue and Fulton Boulevard on Northerly side--Healy, p. 49.

'This project at the port of San Francisco includes two passenger piers, each 161 by 840 feet, with railroad tracks on each side connecting the piers with the railway yards, a transit shed on each pier, and a connecting wharf between piers 35 and 37 for the handling of coastwise cargoes. ... The project was completed in May 1938 at a construction cost of $1,368,476 and a project cost of $1,410,235.'--Short and Brown, p. 427.

In 1933, workers for the Civil Works Administration (CWA) made trails on the cliff face at Lands End and "planted thousands of Monterey Cypress around Lands End to ‘beautify’ the area."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a pistol range at Fort Funston in San Francisco. The facility was: Built for target practice and competitive pistol matches with other police departments.--Healy, p. 70.

Though the roots of this school go back to 1884, it opened at its Carl Street location in 1914. Unfortunately, after a sad and racialized history in the 60s, the school was closed in the early 70s. The buildings were demolished in the mid 80s. During the 30s, New Deal agencies were involved in the construction of the girl's gym (1937) and the school auditorium.

600 seats; concrete,terra cotta trim, tile wainscot. The October 3, 1938 edition of the Daily Pacific Builder reported that $68,348 in PWA funds had been allotted for the project and an architect was being sought.

The WPA worked on Portola Playground in San Francisco.

WPA 1940 sidewalk stamps at Post and Steiner.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved San Francisco's Potrero Hill Playground (the present Potrero Hill Recreation Center) in the late 1930s, when WPA relief workers built the children's play area, tennis courts and a restroom (Healy, p. 66). Both the playground and the tennis courts are still there, but have been completely redone in recent years. We did not find the restroom. It is possible that the quonset hut-style Recreation Center Field House is a later New Deal project, but we do not have confirmation of that.

“A notable artistic feature of the Main Post Chapel is a large fresco painted in 1935 by Victor Arnautoff and his assistants. With St. Francis at its center, the mural depicts a historical pageant related to the founding of the Presidio and the peacetime activities of the Army. Recognized as a leading artist of the period, Arnautoff painted the murals at Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill and in Washington High School, and taught graphic arts at Stanford. "Victor Mikhail Arnautoff was born in the Ukraine in 1896. He served as Cavalry officer in Czar Nicholas II’s army, received the Cross of...

Renovate officers' quarters in the Presidio of San Francisco, by painting interior and exterior, reflooring, repairing and improving plumbing and electrical work, making general carpentry reparis, and performing appurtenant work. This project will operate in the City of San Francisco, San Francisco County. Federally owned property--Mooser, p. 96.

Graded and constructed 4 tennis courts 150 feet x 240 feet, convenience station and concrete retaining walls. Form a sand lot, it is now a community asset for the Richmond District.--Healy, p. 63. This park is now known as the Margaret O. Dupont Park.

This ceramic panel is at the west entrance of the Rincon Annex.  We have no information on the artist and provenance of this piece.

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 California to the founding of the United Nations in the city at the end of the Second World War. These murals are the work of Anton Refregier, an artist with a leftist bent and a strong streak of independence.  They are an astonishing accomplishment in terms of scale, historical vision and artistic style, which is quite unlike most mural art of...

This former San Francisco post office, originally known as the Rincon Annex, was built in 1939-40 and served as the major package transfer center through the city's port – then the largest on the West Coast.  The building was paid for by the Treasury Department and designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood in the Streamline Moderne style. The detail work, inside and out, is exceptional.  The exterior scrim features repeated dolphin bas-reliefs and carved eagles across the facade.  The exterior windows and doors are beautiful  examples of the Art Deco love of cast aluminum.  The interior lobby is done in green...

Two 5' x 20' murals "Land" and "Harvest" by Nelson Pool were painted for the Roosevelt Middle School lobby with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project.

This 5' x 25' oil on canvas mural "Education" by George Wilson Walker was funded by the WPA Federal Art Project. It is on the second floor over the entrance to the auditorium balcony.

WPA workers removed bodies from old Odd Fellows Cemetery to create this park. "Constructed playground, 3 tennis courts and 2 basketball fields, 1 volleyball court, landscaped and built drainage and water system, fenced entire playground and courts, built convenience station and 8 sets of horseshoe courts and 4 outdoor checker tables. This is the largest supervised playground in the Richmond District."--Healy, p. 62.

Constructed playground, largely a grading job. Fencing, landscaping, building rubble and concrete walls.--Healy, p. 63. Most of the rest of the park was added in the 40s and 50s.

Put a concrete foundation under statue of Sun Yat Sen and generally dressed up the park, on California Street opposite old Saint Marys Church.--Healy, p. 59.

2nd of 5 proposed units. The Daily Pacific Builder of October 3, 1938 reported that an architect was wanted for this project which had been awarded $190,000 in PWA money.

The airport first opened in 1927 as Mills Field Municipal Airport. It became San Francisco Municipal Airport in 1931, and SF International Airport in 1955. Both the WPA and the PWA were heavily involved in airport construction and expansion: " Improved the airport by grading, draining, paving and lighting, installing water, gas, electricity, telephone and sewers; building walks, curbs, pavements, new buildings; dredging for seaplane harbor; building seaplane wharves, ramp and seawalls, rock and earth levees and work incidental to making a first class seaplane port." --Healy, p. 70. As of 1936, over $1,800,000 had been expended by the WPA. The reclamation...

The Assessor's Office, located in the San Francisco City Hall, holds a 20' x 50' oil on canvas "Map of San Francisco."

(30 Acres) Improved a natural park by laying 6,500 lineal feet of oiled macadam to serve as a base for future pavement as the traffic conditions may demand, 6,500 feet of rock gutter and 1,250 cubic yards of rubble wall, built water supply system, convenience station, rustic shelter and two playfields, cultivated 6,500 trees and planted 2,500 more. This site was badly in need of improvement. This present condition is in marked contrast to its former state.--Healy, p. 55.

Concrete, 150' x 64'

These 7'4" x 4' tufa stone busts of "Leonardo Da Vinci" and "Thomas Edison" were carved by Frederick E. Olmsted, great-nephew of famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, for the WPA exhibition "Art in Action" at the Treasure Island world's fair. They are located on the exterior of the Science Hall.

Academic building; 3 stories,375' x 112'. The October 3, 1938 edition of the Daily Pacific Builder reported that $1,366,032 had been allotted for the first unit of the science building.

This photo montage mural by Benjamin Cunningham hangs in the City Treasurer's Office. It was funded by the WPA's Federal Art Project in 1938.

Rehabilitated County Jail.--Healy, p. 72. General rehabilitation of building with additional rooms on roof. Completion of unfinished work by S.E.R.A.--Mooser, p. 85. This Hall of Justice was built in 1912 and rehabilitated by the WPA in the 1930s. However, the building was demolished in 1968 and replaced in 1971, along with the neighboring coroner's office, with what is now the Hilton San Francisco Financial District.