BGuthrie Photos: CA -- San Francisco -- Presidio

CA -- San Francisco -- Presidio:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[1] SFPRES_041103_001.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[2] SFPRES_041103_005.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[3] SFPRES_041103_021.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
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[16] SFPRES_041103_155.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[17] SFPRES_041103_169.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[18] SFPRES_041103_181.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
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[22] SFPRES_041103_210.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[23] SFPRES_041103_238.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?) $Outpost of an Empire: You are near what was the northwest corner of the Spanish Presidio (1776). For almost fifty years, a walled-in cluster of adobe buildings served as the northernmost outpost of Spain's New World colonies. From this site and the Spanish mission three miles away, the city of San Francisco would eventually develop. The Spanish garrison here protected Spanish land and regulated ship traffic into the bay until Mexico took control of this territory in 1822. Duty was never easy. Unreliable supply lines left the soldiers constantly wanting. Rain eroded and earthquakes fractured the adobe walls. When the Americans occupied the post in 1846, they found a dilapidated post "crumbling for want of care."$

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SFPRES_041103_001.JPG: The Officers Club (in the background). It was the Commandante's Quarters. It is the oldest building in San Francisco, having been erected in 1776 as part of the Presidio and used as Commandante's quarters and headquarters during Spanish and Mexican regimes in California. Under the American Flag, it was used as headquarters and now as the officers' club. Enlarged at intervals and restored to original architecture in 1934.
2. SFPRES_041103_005.JPG: War in the Philippines: The Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, and the Presidio, 1898-1902 On April 21, 1898, the United States declared war against Spain. The immediate causes were America's support of Cuba's ongoing struggle against Spanish rule and the mysterious explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. This was the first overseas war fought by the United States, with campaigns in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. On May 1, 1898, the Spanish fleet guarding the Philippine Islands was defeated by the U.S. Navy under the command of Commodore George Dewey. Unaware of Dewey's success, President McKinley authorized the assembling of troops to mount a campaign against the capital of Manila. The military base best suited as a staging point for these troops was the Presidio of San Francisco. From 1898 to 1900, 80,000 soldiers passed through the post on their way to the Philippines. After the war against Spain ended, United States leaders decided to give Cuba its independence but keep the Philippines. In 1899, this led to fighting against Philippine "Insurrectos" who wanted their independence. The fighting diminished after the capture of the nationalist leader Emilio Aguinaldo. The conflict officially ended on July 4, 1902. With its new overseas possessions (the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico), the United States emerged as a world power. Signs of the brief war with Spain and the longer conflict with the Filipinos are evident throughout the Presidio today: the large brick Montgomery Street barracks and the original portion of Letterman Hospital built during this period, are now important parts of the historic scene. Major Generals Frederick Funston, who captured Aguinaldo, and William R. Shafter, commander of U.S. Army forces in Cuba during the war, are buried in the San Francisco National Cemetery on the Presidio.
3. SFPRES_041103_021.JPG: Pershing Square. It is named in honor of General John Pershing, the commander of US forces during World War I, who had his home here. In 1915, while he was serving in Mexico, it burned to the ground, killing his wife and three daughters. The guns here are two bronze cannon. The "San Francisco" was made in 1679, the "Virgin of Barbaneda" was done in 1693. The 2-1/4-ton, 105-1/2-foot flagpole is the tallest in the San Francisco area.
4. SFPRES_041103_045.JPG: Pershing Hall
5. SFPRES_041103_058.JPG: Officers quarters. These houses were built between 1862 and 1863, with their fronts facing the parade grounds. In 1878, the porches were removed from the front and reattached on the back side. This was done to make the place more appealing looking to visitors from the city. By the mid-1880's, the white picket fences had begun to appear.
6. SFPRES_041103_116.JPG: Post Hospital. Built in 1863, the hospital front was remodeled in 1878 to face away from the parade grounds. From 1864 to 1899, this building served as the Presidio's principal medical facility. It consisted of a kitchen, ten rooms holding about 50 beds, and a morgue. It was later expanded to include a surgical wing and a biological wing -- both housed in the octagonical addition on the right of the building. Overwhelmed by sick and wounded troops during the Spanish-American War, the Presidio's main hospital moved a few hundred yards to the east to what would become known as Letterman General Hospital in 1899. The old Post Hospital continued to serve as an outpatient clinic and dispensary until the early 1970's, when it was converted to a museum.
7. SFPRES_041103_125.JPG: This fire station was built in 1917. It was a response to the fatal fire that killed General Pershing's family in 1915.
8. SFPRES_041103_143.JPG: Rehabilitation of Building 35. One of the largest historic buildings in the Presidio of San Francisco, Building #35 was constructed by the U.S. Army (c.1912) as an Enlisted Men's Barracks, housing more than 250 soldiers. The building has since undergone major alterations and changes of use. By 1921, the barracks function gave way to new use as administrative offices of the Ninth Corps Headquarters. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the building became the headquarters of the Western Defense Command headed by Lt. General John DeWitt. Responding to anti-Japanese sentiment in California, General DeWitt carried out a Presidential Executive Order that resulted in the internment of 110,000 West Coast Japanese and Japanese-Americans. After WWII, the building became part of the Sixth U.S. Army headquarters until conversion of the Presidio in 1994. Considered a derivative example of the Italianate architectural style, the simple austere geometry and horizontality of the walls and ornamentation represent a "modern" architectural approach for the Presidio and were related directly to the practical use of reinforced concrete construction. Later, the original projecting cornice and balconies were removed, compromising somewhat the integrity of the exterior. This historic Presidio building will soon be home to The Bay School of San Francisco, a new independent high school. The building will undergo an extensive, privately funded rehabilitation and seismic retrofit in keeping with the Presidio Trust's historic preservation standards. The building's history will be interpreted as part of the project. The school is expected to open at this location in Fall 2005.
9. SFPRES_041103_155.JPG: Rehabilitation of Buildings 86 and 87: Buildings 86 and 87 were constructed in 1862 as barracks. Originally, they were part of a long row of one story buildings that lined Graham Street and faced the earlier main parade ground. In 1886, they were enlarged to become two story barracks. Subsequently, these flexible buildings have had many uses, including wagon shop, Quartermaster/Commissary facility and offices. The Presidio Trust hopes to oversee the careful rehabilitation of both buildings to create new office space for lease. When funding is available and/or tenants have been identified, the buildings will be combined and connected with a compatibly designed infill structure housing the entry lobby and elevator. Selective demolition, abatement, building stabilization and design work have already been accomplished. When complete, Buildings 86 and 87 will be able to house up to six office spaces ranging in size from 2,000 SF to 4,000 SF or larger combinations.
10. SFPRES_041103_169.JPG: This used to be the main post guardhouse but it's now the U.S. Post Office.
11. SFPRES_041103_181.JPG: The Montgomery Street barracks were the first major use of brick in Presidio architecture. Built from 1895 to 1897, these monumental barracks symbolized permanence -- a visible statement that the Army was here to stay. These barracks and the adjacent parade ground once again expanded the main post. In 1898, the U.S. went to war with Spain. The Presidio became the West Coast staging area for mobilizing and training troops bound for the Philippines. Fighting there was heavy. Sick and wounded returned to a hospital temporarily housed in two of these barracks while a new general hospital (later named Letterman General Hospital) was built near the waterfront. After distinguished service in World War I, the 30th Infantry Regiment, "San Francisco's Own," was garrisoned in these barracks from 1921 to 1941.
12. SFPRES_041103_193.JPG: The Ordonez Gun: A "War Prize" from the Philippines -- 1899 The Presidio's Ordonez gun was originally mounted in a Spanish coastal fort at Subic Bay in the Philippines. Undamaged during the Spanish-American War, the gun was captured by Filipino nationalists, who were known as "Insurrectos" by the occupying Americans. In September 1899, a combined U.S. Army-Navy force attacked the Filipino positions at Subic Bay. This gun was reported to have been destroyed by shellfire from the American cruiser USS Charleston. Some historians suggest that the damage was caused by the explosion of shell within the gun. Following the war, numerous captured guns from the Philippines were brought to the United States as war prizes. Publisher William Randolph Hearst acquired this Ordonez gun and presented it to the City of San Francisco. It was on display in Columbia Square Park until 1973, when the U.S. Army acquired the gun for display at the Presidio. This Ordonez gun has been preserved in its battle-damaged state as a reminder of the U.S. Army soldiers who passed through the Presidio and their Spanish and Filipino opponents who manned the weapon. This rifled artillery piece, developed by Captain don Salvador Diaz Ordonez of the Spanish army, could fire a 500-pound shell nearly seven miles. The Spanish military mounted Ordonez guns in coastal forts in Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere.
13. SFPRES_041103_238.JPG: Outpost of an Empire: You are near what was the northwest corner of the Spanish Presidio (1776). For almost fifty years, a walled-in cluster of adobe buildings served as the northernmost outpost of Spain's New World colonies. From this site and the Spanish mission three miles away, the city of San Francisco would eventually develop. The Spanish garrison here protected Spanish land and regulated ship traffic into the bay until Mexico took control of this territory in 1822. Duty was never easy. Unreliable supply lines left the soldiers constantly wanting. Rain eroded and earthquakes fractured the adobe walls. When the Americans occupied the post in 1846, they found a dilapidated post "crumbling for want of care."
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AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Presidio of San Francisco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or Royal Presidio of San Francisco) is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in the City and County of San Francisco. It is operated by the National Park Service of the United States as a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The largest area "Main Post" is managed by the Presidio Trust, a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization. The park is characterized by many wooded areas, hills, and scenic vistas overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

The Presidio was recognized by Congress as a National Historic Landmark District, the highest historic designation that can be given in the U.S. This designation is given to a collection of structures and their related landscape which have nationally important historical integrity. The Presidio Trust Act calls for "preservation of the cultural and historic integrity of the Presidio for public use." The Act also requires that the Presidio Trust be financially self-sufficient by 2013. The result of these two imperatives are conflicts between maximizing income by leasing historic buildings, permitting public use despite most structures being rented privately, and preservation of the integrity of the National Historic Landmark District by maintaining the historic "sense of place" despite new construction, competing pressures for natural habitat restoration, and requirements for commercial purposes that impede public access. As of 2007, there was only a rudimentary visitors' center to orient visitors to the Presidio's history.
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2004 photos: Equipment this year: I bought two Fujifilm S7000 digital cameras. While they produced excellent images, I found all of the retractable-lens Fuji models had a disturbing tendency to get dust inside the lens. Dark blurs would show up on the images and the camera had to be sent back to the shop in order to get it fixed. I returned one of the cameras when the blurs showed up in the first month. I found myself buying extended warranties on cameras. Trips this year: (1) Margot and I went off to Scotland for a few days, my first time overseas. (2) I went to Hawaii on business (such a deal!) and extended it, spending a week in Hawaii and another in California. (3) I went to Tennessee to man a booth and extended it to go to my third Fan Fair country music festival. Number of photos taken this year: 110,000.
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