Aquatic Park Bathhouse

A Palace for the People

Originally known as Black Point Cove, Aquatic Park has long been enjoyed by the people of San Francisco. Beginning in the 1860s, swimmers used the sandy beach and sheltered cove for recreation, even as industrial buildings and train tracks along the shoreline began expanding into the area. Over the next 50 years, local recreation clubs, including the Dolphin Club and South End Club, rallied public support to transform this area from an industrial zone into a waterfront park.

The city’s Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in 1914 that marked a turning point in this long campaign. Black Point Cove was designated as the “site for the proposed aquatic park,” preserving it from future commercial development. Today, this historic district supports recreational opportunities from rowing to swimming, to spending a relaxing day with family and friends, with the Aquatic Park Bathhouse at the center of the action

 

Aquatic Park construction in the cove, May 13, 1938.

NPS Photo

Rebuilding America: Works Progress Administration

The dream to create an Aquatic Park came to fruition in 1935, thanks to funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This federal program, created under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was designed to create community in a time of crises. The WPA would regenerate both public sites and the spirit of the American people.

“We are definitely in an era of building,” Roosevelt said, “the best kind of building—the building of great public projects for the benefit of the public and with the definite objective of building human happiness.”

From 1936 to 1939, the WPA constructed the Aquatic Park Bathhouse. For its time, the Bathhouse represented the pinnacle of modernity. It contained an emergency hospital, restaurant, concession stand, skylights, showers activated by photoelectric “eyes,” and lockers and dressing rooms that could accommodate hundreds of swimmers. The adjacent bleachers provided seating for thousands to enjoy the waterfront park. A beautiful promenade followed the curve of the sandy beach along the water’s edge.

Tens of thousands of excited San Franciscans attended the dedication ceremony on January 22, 1939. The decades-old dream for Black Point Cove had been achieved. WPA officials proclaimed, “Here thousands of happy youngsters find protected play-ground in the water and on the shore. Here thousands of wearied adults may sink into warm, embracing sand, content to just lie and relax, and revel in the beauties spread before them.”

 

Hilaire Hiler painting the Aquatic Park Bathhouse murals

NPS Photo

The Art and Architecture of Aquatic Park

Creating Aquatic Park was a cooperative effort. William Mooser II, a member of a distinguished family of San Francisco architects, supervised the $1.5 million architectural extravaganza. His son, William Mooser III, designed the Bathhouse and other structures in the park. He used the Streamline Moderne style, defined by sweeping lines, curved facades, stainless steel railings, and porthole windows.

The art in the Bathhouse was as modern as the architecture. It created a fantastic, nautical world through vibrant paint, tile, and sculpture. Hilaire Hiler, the project’s art director, depicted the mythic continents of Atlantis and Mu on the lobby walls. His designs feature surrealistic fish, which Ann Sonia Medalie executed and embellished.

Sargent Claude Johnson, the most prominent African American artist working for the WPA in Northern California, carved the green slate on the main facade. He also designed the tile mosaic on the veranda, assisted by Mohammed Zyani. Richard Ayer designed and created murals reminiscent of steamships on the bathhouse's third floor, with the aid of Shirley Staschen. Ayer also designed the building's terrazzo tile flooring. Sculptor Beniamino Bufano created fanciful statues of animals from granite and marble.

 

Artists of Aquatic Park

 

Controversy on the Waterfront: The Palace for the People Opens... and Closes

With great fanfare and much acclaim, the Aquatic Park Bathhouse opened for the public on January 22, 1939, but the euphoria did not last. The city had decided to lease most of the Bathhouse to private businessmen, who promptly opened the Aquatic Park Casino. This exclusive restaurant and nightclub discouraged public use of the building. When a group of schoolboys brought their sack lunches to the veranda, they were ordered to leave by the concessioner. Prominent signs read “Private – Keep Out.”

The public outcry was intense. Sargent Johnson walked away from the project. His beautiful tile mosaic on the veranda remains unfinished. Beniamino Bufano moved his statues, stating, “I would rather have kids playing over my statues than to have drunks stumbling over them. And I’m no teetotaler, either.” An investigation soon followed, and the city was found guilty of mismanagement. The concessioner was ousted, and the doors padlocked.

The building opened again briefly in 1941 to showcase historic ship models. This collection, owned by Alma Spreckels, was part of the Museum of Science and Industry she had proposed for the building.

 

The Years 1942-1948

World War II

With the increasing involvement of the United States in World War II, the city leased Aquatic Park to the U.S. Army. Troops from the 216th Coast Artillery were quartered in the building. Later, the headquarters of the Fourth Anti-Aircraft Command, responsible for the defense of the Pacific Coast, was established there. When war ended in 1945, the military transferred the property back to the city.

San Francisco Senior Center

Shortly after the city resumed control of the building, the San Francisco Senior Center leased the ground floor of the Aquatic Park Bathhouse in 1947. This is the oldest, private, non-profit Senior Center in the United States. Today, the Senior Center offers classes and other activities to over 2,000 seniors each year.

 

A Museum is Born

Karl Kortum, a man with an abiding love of ships and the sea, had the inspired idea of transforming the upper floors of the vacant Bathhouse into a maritime museum. Working with part of Alma Spreckels’ collection, he led the foundation of the San Francisco Maritime Museum in 1951. The building was public once again.

Over the next decades, Kortum further developed the Maritime Museum to include a fleet of historic ships docked at nearby Hyde Street Pier. He also led the preservation and rehabilitation of adjacent properties, like Victorian Park and the Haslett Warehouse, that would also highlight maritime exhibits. In 1988, all these sites, along with Aquatic Park and its former Bathhouse, became part of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

Restored Like New

In 2006, the Maritime Museum was closed to begin a multi-year rehabilitation of the building's exterior, murals, and adjacent bleachers. Subsequent projects, completed in 2010 and 2017, restored the vibrancy of murals in the lobby and third floor.

Planning is still underway for new exhibits throughout the museum. In the meantime, small exhibits on the building’s early history and artistic influences can be seen onsite.

To learn more, watch the 15-minute film A Palace for the People.