San Francisco Sites

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted substantial improvement work at San Francisco Hospital during the Great Depression. The WPA: Repaired training nurses home, administration building, pathological, emergency and receiving buildings, general rehabilitation.--Healy, p. 71.

Albert Stewart completed four bronze reliefs showing the "Minting Process" at the San Francisco Mint in 1937 with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. Stewart also completed two sculptures, entitled "Eagles," for the Mint.  

Extended the 'L' car line from Taraval Street to Wawona Street to serve the Fleishhacker Playground.--Healy, p. 70.

Building restored and repaired by the PWA.

(.43 Acres ) Clay near Walnut Street. This was simply a job of rehabilitation, building a new roof and placing new panelling in recreation room and painting throughout.--Healy, p. 65.

Two granite sculptures by Beniamino Bufano decorate the San Francisco State University campus. The "Head of St. Francis" stands in the main quadrangle near the walkway between the Business and Student Centers. The 4' sculpture of a male torso is in the courtyard between the HHS and Business buildings.

The New Deal was involved in storm drain construction near then San Francisco State College.

WPA description of project: Demolished old school building.--Healy, p. 69 Office Building for the Department of Public Welfare of the City and County of San Francisco. Construct two-story and basement reinforced concrete and frame building complete. Build pool concrete walks, and landscape Court Area. Construct parking space. Excavation and backfill. Wreck present building.--Mooser, p. 95

Built 600 lineal feet of rubble sea wall enclosing a yacht basin, a harbor master's station; paved certain drives with natural rock asphalt. This improvement like Aquatic Park added to the picturesque shore line a useful recreational asset. The new harbor, front yard of the fine Marina homes contains several hundred yachts, launches and other pleasure craft. The drives and spacious grass plots of the Marina afford opportunity for the spectators to witness the boating and yachting engaged in by so many local sportsmen.--Healy, pp. 67-68.

'Work consisted of grading 114,600 cubic yards for underground pump house, underpass, paths, paddocks, lakes and lagoons; placing 6,600 cubic yards of red rock surfacing on paths; building 123,000 square feet of rustic rubble face to slopes of paths; spreading 20,000 cubic yards loam, installing 18 inch culverts, 18,400 feet of sewer, 13,100 feet of irrigation system and 4 pumps; construction of underground reinforced concrete pump house of 315 cubic yards, 150 cubic yards concrete under-pass, concrete wall, moat slab and coping around animal island of 485 cubic yards and landscaping. This improvement contributed to make these gardens unique among...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the stone gateway and wall, of the San Francisco Zoo.

Sisters Helen, Margaret and Esther Bruton created two mosaics for the exterior of the San Francisco Zoo's Mothers Building in 1934. The mosaics depict "Children and Their Animal Friends" and "St. Francis."  

Murals by Dorothy Pucinelli and Helen Forbes adorn the interior of the Mothers Building at the SF Zoo which was originally built in 1925 as a refuge for mothers and their children. Pucinelli and Forbes used egg tempera to paint a four panel mural illustrating "Noah and his Ark-the Waters Subsiding and Renewal." The murals were painted in 1938 with Federal Art Project funds. From 1978 to 2002, the building served as the Zoo's gift shop, however the murals are currently deteriorating and, pending more funds for restoration, the building is only used for occasional events.

The Works Progress Administration built the Monkey Island at the San Francisco Zoo in San Francisco CA.

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.  

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in the world and the key transportation link in the Bay Area, was built under the New Deal with funding from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). The 8-mile long bridge (43,500 feet) consists of two parts, both anchored to Yerba Buena Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.  The western half is an elegant suspension bridge (whose beauty has always suffered by comparison with the Golden Gate Bridge, but gained a delightful electronic light show in the 2010s). The longer  eastern half was a classic cantilever bridge, ungainly but...

'The Richmond-Sunset sewage-treatment plant is in the Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. The entire project, known as 'the sanitary program for the city and county of San Francisco,' consisted of reconditioning and rebuilding existing sewer lines together with the erection of necessary pumping stations and sewage-disposal plants. The old system consisted of a network of sewers throughout the thickly populated section of the city which discharged raw sewage directly into the San Francisco Bay. With the construction of this and two other plants, the contamination of the bay waters was eliminated. The process consists of screening, sedimentation, sludge digestion, sludge...

(33 1/2 Acres) 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard. Improved the grove by building retaining wall, tennis courts, bowling greens and barbecue, providing facilities for family community outdoor activities, in a natural bowl surrounded by magnificent trees which make a sheltered and delightful recreational area. This was the site of the historic Trocadero Inn where the only reminders are the small lake and the rock garden. This is now the locale for summer musical festivals attened by 15,000 or more music lovers.--Healy, p. 61.

Excavation of 7,700 cubic yards of earth and removal to dump. The clearing of 29 trees and reconstruction of 850 lineal feet of board fence.--Mooser, p. 81.

WPA workers worked to widen Sloat Blvd. in 1937.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) rehabilitated police stations in San Francisco during the Great Depression, including the Southern and Mission Stations. The agency: Rehabilitated buildings to meet requirements of department, providing additional cell space, new ventilation and painting.--Healy, p. 70.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed San Francisco's St. Joseph's Avenue during the Great Depression. Consisted of grading from Turk to Geary Street involving 4,600 cubic yards of earth and rock excavation and removal of 3,000 cubic yards of same a distance of 2 miles.--Healy, p. 47.

This 14-foot-tall stainless steel and granite sculpture of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, founder of the Chinese Republic, was sculpted by Beniamino Bufano and completed in 1937 with FAP funds.  "Revered as the 'Father of Modern China,' Sun Yat-sen visited San Francisco in the early 1900s and often relaxed in St. Mary's Square." (Guide.)  

In 1935-36, the Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for the partial reconstruction of a 1913 wooden school building (removal of the 3d floor) and the addition of a new wing that added six classrooms. Verplanck and Graves (p. 113) provide further detail: "Similar to Patrick Henry School, Starr King Elementary was deemed unsafe due to vulnerability to fire and earthquakes. The scope of work for Starr King removal of the third floor and the construction of a reinforced-concrete addition containing six classrooms. The work was designed by City Architect Charles H. Sawyer and completed in 1935 or 1936." The follow-up to the...

Work has only been started to make many provisions, for educational purposes, for the exhibition of trees and shrubs from all parts of the world.--Healy, p. 59.

"Built in the 1940's as a means to house military personnel and their families, it was later bought by the city of San Francisco and converted to a low-income housing project." - https://wikimapia.org/1802193/Sunnydale-Housing-Projects

This WPA sculpture "Bear and Head" by Beniamino Bufano was created in 1935 and placed here in 1945. It measures 5'4" long and 3' wide, and is carved from black granite.

" group of animals of cast terrazzo (a camel, burro, grasshopper, duck, hippopotamus and elephant), each approximately 26 inches long, 24 inches high and 12 inches wide, and variously colored coral, green and gray, were placed in the Child Care Center Playground of the Sunnydale Housing Project." - https://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Sargent_Johnson_and_His_Milieu Apparently Johnson, who was a friend of Bufano's, was careful not to use the same animals that Bufano used.

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 Lawton Street was bought for $50,676 and began as a playground. Built by the Recreation Department and the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration), Sunset Playground opened in 1940 with a small field house, volleyball, basketball and tennis courts." (ParkScan) We believe that the WPA relief workers developed the entire playground and not just the grading of the site, as indicated by Healy.  "Like...

This school was originally built for children with physical disabilities. It later became a continuation high school, and currently houses the SFUSD Cal-SAFE program, the Hilltop School, and various community agencies. At the time of its construction, it housed 18 classrooms, a courtyard and a therapeutic bathing pool. It was situated near Buena Vista Elementary School, which was also designed for children with various health ailments. The first floor of the building was devoted to crippled children and provided facilities for their education and care. The patio provided a play area in which they could move about freely in their...

Sacking and warehousing existing split wood, for the purpose of supplying indigent families with stove wood. Distribution to be made by the Surplus Commodities Division of S.E.R.A., also cleaning and burning certain areas previously logged.--Mooser, p. 80.

Demolished old buildings, landscaped, surfaced walks and paths. As the photographs show, this work did much to restore and enhance the beauty of the park. This was the estate of the former mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro. The many statues brought from Europe were thoroughly cleaned and repaired under this project. The site commands a marvelous view.--Healy, p. 58.

'Work consisted of excavating and building 1,600 square feet of wall, 243 cubic yards of rubble walls, 62 cubic yards of concrete retaining walls, red rock coping, slope facing of 196 cubic yards, 86 cubic yards of concrete gutter and shoulder, 2300 square feet of concrete side walk, 250 lineal feet of standard 5 foot chain link fence, grading, rocking, oiling 9,400 square feet of paths, installing 578 lineal feet of drainage and water system, spreading 210 cubic yards loam and planting shrubs. Telegraph Hill of 2.87 acres, is now one of the most attractive observation points in San Francisco...

The WPA worked on Townsend St. between Embarcadero and 4th St.

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.

'The administration and terminal building is semicircular in plan, its court having a diameter of 86 feet. It is constructed entirely of reinforced concrete and is designed to resist earthquake shocks. It has 2 main floors and 2 mezzanine floors and is provided with a radio control room and an aerial beacon on top of the structure for eventual use in connection with the airfield.'--Short and Brown, p. 639.

'These twin hangars were constructed for permanent use to be part of a future flying field but were made available for temporary use by the exposition. Each structure has mechanically operated doors 200 feet wide and 40 feet high with a possible increase in height to 65 feet at the centers. A one-story shop wing 40 feet wide extends along one side of each building. The two structures were completed in June 1938 at a total cost for both of $709,239.'--Short and Brown, p. 534. The west hangar was the Hall of Transportation and the east hangar was the Palace of...

Fine Arts Building at the Golden Gate International Exposition constructed with PWA funds.

This building was part of the Pan American Airways Exhibit of the Golden Gate International Exposition.

Funds for a seawall and fill for the exposition site were provided through a $3,043,000 WPA grant. Another WPA grant of $1,296,000 provided for roadways, a causeway, trestles, landscaping, and drainage of water systems. A PWA grant of $1,711,000, matched in part by local funds, provided for paving, ferry slips and some buildings. Private funding for the exhibition were raised through private subscriptions, through the sale of bonds. A 1940 WPA publication describes the construction of Treasure Island as follows: "Dedicated November 21, 1937, Yerba Buena Shoals, more popularly known as Treasure Island, was raised from beneath the waters of the bay through the handling...