BAYVIEW-HUNTERS POINT AREA B SURVEY SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA HISTORIC CONTEXT STATEMENT PREPARED BY KELLEY & VERPLANCK FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY February 11, 2010 KELLEY & VERPLANCK HISTORICAL RESOURCES CONSULTING 2912 DIAMOND STREET #330, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131 415.337.5824 // WWW.KVPCONSULTING.COM Historic Context Statement Bayview-Hunters Point: Area B Survey San Francisco, California TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 1 A. PURPOSE ......................................................................................................................... 3 B. DEFINITION OF GEOGRAPHICAL AREA ................................................................................... 4 C. IDENTIFICATION OF HISTORIC CONTEXTS AND PERIODS OF SIGNIFICANCE................................... 6 II. METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................................... 11 III. IDENTIFICATION OF EXISTING HISTORIC STATUS .................................................... 14 A. HERE TODAY .................................................................................................................. 14 B. 1976 CITYWIDE ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY ........................................................................... 14 C. SAN FRANCISCO ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE ....................................................................... 15 D. ARTICLE 10 OF THE SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING CODE .......................................................... 15 E. UNREINFORCED MASONRY BUILDING (UMB) SURVEY ........................................................... 16 F. NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES .......................................................................... 16 G. CALIFORNIA REGISTER OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES.............................................................. 17 H. OTHER SURVEYS AND TECHNICAL REPORTS......................................................................... 18 IV. HISTORIC CONTEXT................................................................................................... 20 A. PREHISTORIC AND EARLY CONTACT ERA: -1775 .................................................................. 20 B. EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT – SPANISH AND MEXICAN PERIODS: 1776-1847 ................................ 24 C. EARLY AMERICAN SETTLEMENT: LAND SUBDIVISION AND DEVELOPMENT: 1848-1864................ 27 D. INDUSTRIAL AND RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN "SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO": 1865-1906 ............ 37 E. INDUSTRIAL AND RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN BAYVIEW-HUNTERS POINT: 1907-1929 ............ 69 F. BAYVIEW-HUNTERS POINT DURING THE DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II: 1930-1945............... 87 G. EVOLUTION OF BAYVIEW-HUNTERS POINT DURING THE POST-WAR ERA: 1946-1974.................. 97 H. POSTSCRIPT: BAYVIEW-HUNTERS POINT: 1975-2009 ......................................................... 124 I. AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SAN FRANCISCO: 1841-2009 ......................................................... 127 J. MALTESE AMERICANS IN SAN FRANCISCO: 1900-2009........................................................ 144 K. REDEVELOPMENT IN SAN FRANCISCO: 1948-2009 ............................................................. 145 V. DEFINITION OF PROPERTY TYPES ............................................................................ 155 A. IDENTIFICATION OF PROPERTY TYPES ASSOCIATED WITH HISTORIC CONTEXTS......................... 155 B. DISTRIBUTION OF REPRESENTATIVE BUILDING TYPES........................................................... 171 C. CONDITION OF RESOURCE TYPES .................................................................................... 171 VI. RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................... 176 A. SIGNIFICANCE AND REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS ............................................................. 176 B. OTHER PRESERVATION GOALS AND STRATEGIES................................................................. 177 C. AREAS REQUIRING FUTURE WORK ................................................................................... 178 VII. CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................... 181 VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 182 APPENDIX February 11, 2010 Kelley & VerPlanck Historic Context Statement Bayview-Hunters Point: Area B Survey San Francisco, California I. INTRODUCTION Bayview-Hunters Point is a sprawling residential and industrial district in the southeast corner of San Francisco. One of San Francisco’s largest districts, the 2,528-acre swath encompasses roughly 9,000 parcels within multiple neighborhoods, including Hunters Point, India Basin, Bayview, Silver Terrace, and Bret Harte, as well as extensive industrial districts in the Islais Creek Estuary (Oakinba and Northern Gateway) and South Basin areas. The boundaries of Bayview-Hunters Point are generally understood to be Cesar Chavez Boulevard (formerly Army Street) to the north, San Francisco Bay to the east, the Bayshore Freeway (U.S. Highway 101) to the west, and Candlestick Hill (also known as Bayview Hill) to the south (Figure 1).1 Traditionally a diverse, mixed-income, and mixed-use residential and industrial district, Bayview-Hunters Point enjoys tremendous physical assets, including a 14-mile coastline on San Francisco Bay, relatively balmy weather, and a network of hills that provide views of the eastern half of San Francisco, the East Bay, Marin, and San Mateo counties. The district is also afflicted by entrenched poverty, disinvestment, and the legacy of industrial pollutants that continue to affect many in the area to this day. Bayview-Hunters Point is one of San Francisco’s oldest and most historic communities. Originally occupied by plains of coastal grasslands, hillsides covered in coastal sage scrub, and extensive marshlands, the physical character of the district has been extensively transformed from the initial contact era between Spanish explorers and the native Ohlone inhabitants. During the Spanish and Mexican periods, what is now the Bayview-Hunters Point district was home to cattle herds, belonging first to Mission Dolores, and later José Bernal’s Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo. After the American conquest of California, the land comprising today’s Bayview- Hunters Point district was quickly subdivided into house and garden lots and gradually sold off to diverse group of American and European settlers. The area soon became San Francisco’s most ethnically varied community, housing British, Scandinavian, and German boat builders at India Basin; several Chinese fishermen’s camps at Hunters Point; Italian, Maltese, and Portuguese truck farmers in the Bayview; and French tannery workers and Mexican and southwestern vaqueros at Butchertown. Bayview-Hunters Point has a distinguished industrial history, beginning with the construction of the San Francisco Dry Dock at Hunters Point in 1866. Shipbuilding was soon augmented by Butchertown, San Francisco’s wholesale butchers’ reservation on Islais Creek. By the First World War, San Francisco’s industrial belt had extended south along the Central Waterfront to Islais Creek, leading to the filling of most of the Islais Creek Estuary for industrial sites during the 1920s and 1930s. However, it was not until the Second World War that Bayview-Hunters Point leapfrogged into the top ranks of industrial zones on the West Coast following the acquisition of the Hunters Point Dry Dock by the U.S. Navy in 1940. During this period the population of the district exploded as thousands of war workers (many of whom were African American) moved to Hunters Point to take jobs in the naval shipyard. Despite extensive job losses following the closure of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in 1974 and the eventual decommissioning of the base in 1991, as well other problems stemming from isolation, neglect, and higher-than-average rates of poverty, Bayview-Hunters Point has remained a vibrant predominantly (but not exclusively) African American neighborhood. Today, the district stands at a crossroads. Over the last two decades the percentage of African 1 Bayview-Hunters Point Project Area Committee (PAC) and San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) Long Range Planning/Technical Staff. Bayview Hunters Point Community Revitalization Concept Plan (San Francisco: San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, 2002), 16. -1- February 11, 2010 Kelley & VerPlanck. Historic Context Statement Bayview-Hunters Point: Area B Survey San Francisco, California Americans has diminished to less than half of the total population while the percentage of other races and ethnic groups has increased substantially. Although longstanding issues facing the district persist, the future promises many changes, including a redeveloped shipyard, new housing and parks, and a revitalized commercial corridor. Many of these chances will result in changes to the social, cultural, and physical character of the neighborhood. Figure 1. Location and boundaries of Bayview-Hunters Point district Source: United States Geological Survey Annotated by KVP Consulting -2- February 11, 2010 Kelley & VerPlanck. Historic Context Statement Bayview-Hunters Point: Area B Survey San Francisco, California A. PURPOSE The Bayview-Hunters Point Historic Context Statement (Context Statement) has been prepared