The white Streamline Moderne building at Aquatic Park is one of San Francisco's best New Deal landmarks. The National Park Service says it was designed to mimic the clean lines of an ocean liner.

From cove to 'palace for the people'

The Park Service says swimmers used the sheltered Black Point Cove starting in the 1860s. Clubs including the Dolphin Club and the South End Club spent decades pushing to turn the industrial shoreline into a park. In 1914, the Board of Supervisors designated the cove as the site for an aquatic park. Works Progress Administration funding arrived in 1935, and the WPA built the bathhouse from 1936 to 1939. It was dedicated on Jan. 22, 1939.

The art

According to the NPS, art director Hilaire Hiler painted the mythic continents of Atlantis and Mu on the lobby walls. Ann Sonia Medalie carried out his surreal fish. Sargent Claude Johnson, whom the Park Service calls the most prominent African American artist working for the WPA in Northern California, carved the green slate on the main facade and designed the tile mosaic on the veranda. Richard Ayer created the steamship murals on the third floor, and Beniamino Bufano made animal sculptures.

Scandal, war and a museum

The NPS says the city leased most of the building to private operators. They opened the Aquatic Park Casino, an exclusive restaurant and nightclub, and put up "Private – Keep Out" signs. After public outcry, Johnson walked off the job, leaving his veranda mosaic unfinished. Bufano moved his statues away. An investigation found the city guilty of mismanagement, and the doors were padlocked. During World War II, the Army used the building. The San Francisco Senior Center leased the ground floor in 1947. In 1951, Karl Kortum founded the San Francisco Maritime Museum on the upper floors. In 1988, the site became part of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

Wikipedia notes that California Historical Landmark No. 236, near Beach and Larkin streets, honors the Spanish ship San Carlos. In 1775 it became the first known European ship to enter San Francisco Bay.

Visiting

The Park Service says the Maritime Museum shows exhibits on West Coast maritime history, the original murals and mosaics, and a short film on the bathhouse, plus a veranda overlooking Aquatic Park Cove. Check nps.gov/safr for current hours. The historic ships nearby are covered in our Hyde Street Pier story.