San Francisco’s Maritime National Park gets well-deserved spotlight in a documentary

Maritime national park in San francisco, a streamlined moderne treasure, gets its due in a documentary. Photo By Therese poletti

San Francisco’s finest example of Streamline Moderne architecture will be in the spotlight in a new documentary about the history and the art of the Aquatic Park Bathhouse, today known as the Maritime National Park.

The documentary, “A Balcony on the World,” will air on August 22 on KQED at 8 pm and tells the story of the creation of the bathhouse as a democratic country club, a public place for leisure and art. A major project of the Works Public Administration (WPA), the building sits on its lagoon site like an ocean liner ready to depart.

In addition to the stunning nautical architecture by father and son architects William Mooser II. and William Mooser III, the former bathhouse also contains a feast for the eyes of New Deal-era works by artists Hilaire Hiler, Sargent Johnson, Benny Bufano and others in the form of dreamy murals, stunning mosaics and sculpture.

Sargent Johnson’s mosaics provides a colorful backdrop for benny bufano’s sculpture on the veranda photo by THerese Poletti

Completed in 1939, the noble aspirations of a public bathhouse did not last long. The city leased most of the building to a group of businessmen who created an Aquatic Park Casino, a restaurant and nightclub, discouraging public use of the building. The artists were enraged and Johnson stormed off the project, leaving his mosaics unfinished.

During World War II, a command responsible for defending the West Coast was established there. Eventually, in 1988, the site, including the former bathhouse became a National Historic Park. It is now under the auspices of the National Parks Service, which has completed many rehabilitation and restoration projects. Some of these stories may be told in what promises to be a visually rich documentary by filmmaker John Rogers, partly funded by SF National Maritime Park Association President Darlene Plumtree.

The SF National Maritime Park Association is also hosting a world premiere of “A Balcony on the World,” this Saturday evening, August 16, at 7:15 at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco. Space is limited but there may still be free tickets available. Filmmaker Rogers will be in attendance.

The SF Maritime National Park won an Art Deco Society of California Preservation Award in 1986, and art conservator Ann Rosenthal won an award in 2022 for her work, which included restoration work on many of the murals in the lobby and uncovering new art work upstairs.