San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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Historic ships docked at Hyde Street Pier, San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park
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Location | San Francisco, California, United States |
Coordinates | 37°48′23″N 122°25′25″W / 37.80639°N 122.42361°WCoordinates: 37°48′23″N 122°25′25″W / 37.80639°N 122.42361°W |
Area | 50 acres (20 ha) |
Established | June 27, 1988 |
Visitors | 4,224,897 (in 2011) |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park |
Official name | Aquatic Park Historic District |
Designated | January 26, 1984 |
Reference no. | 84001183 |
Official name | San Francisco Maritime National Historic Site |
Designated | June 27, 1988 |
Reference no. | 01000281 |
The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, United States. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. The park is sometimes referred to as the San Francisco Maritime Museum, its former 1951 name that changed in 1978 when the collections were acquired by the National Park Service. Today's San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was authorized in 1988; the maritime museum is among the park's many cultural resources. The park also incorporates the Aquatic Park Historic District, bounded by Van Ness Avenue, Polk Street, and Hyde Street.
The historic fleet of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is moored at the park's Hyde Street Pier. The fleet consists of the following major vessels:
The fleet also includes over one hundred small craft.
The Visitor Center is housed in the park's 1909 waterfront warehouse, located at the corner of Hyde and Jefferson Streets. The City of San Francisco declared the four-story brick structure an historic landmark in 1974, and the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Inside, exhibits (including a first order Fresnel lighthouse lens and a shipwrecked boat) tell the story of San Francisco’s colorful and diverse maritime heritage. The visitor center also contains a theater and a ranger-staffed information desk.
The maritime museum was until recently housed in a Streamline Moderne (late Art Deco) building that is the centerpiece of the Aquatic Park Historic District, a National Historic Landmark at the foot of Polk Street and a minute's walk from the visitor center and Hyde Street Pier. The building was originally built (starting in 1936) by the WPA as a public bathhouse, and its interior is decorated with fantastic and colorful murals, created primarily by artist and color theoretician Hilaire Hiler. The architects were William Mooser Jr. and William Mooser III.