National Register #81000172
Beach Chalet
1000 Great Highway
Built 1925, designed by Willis Polk
The inside of the Beach Chalet is adorned with exceptional WPA era murals depicting scenes from the everyday life of the city and Golden Gate Park.
Originally built in 1925 as a city-run restaurant and beach changing rooms, the murals were added in 1936-1937 as part of the city’s several WPA projects.
During the Great Depression, the Federal Art Project, a division of the Work Progress Administrations, put many artists to work by commissioning murals across the city. Generally, these murals depict the everyday life of idealized workers and everyday people, however, the fresco murals on the first floor of the Beach Chalet on the west end of the park are unique in that they show specific, important San Francisco figures of the time, including Park Superintendent John McLaren. Painted in, the frescos were done in the traditional wet plaster technique by the artist Lucien Labuadt, assisted by Arnold Bray, Farrell Dwyer, and the plaster, James Wyatt.
The original restaurant at the Beach Chalet did not succeed and closed in 1940, and shortly thereafter the U.S. Military took over the Chalet for housing facilities. It remained in use as a clubhouse and bar for the Veterans of Foreign Wars following WWII, and closed once again in 1981. In 1987, renovations started once again, including the murals, and today, it is open to the public as a small museum downstairs and a restaurant upstairs, and is home to an impressive scale model diorama of Golden Gate Park.
If you can tear yourself away from the beach, check out the murals on the first floor.
The inside of the Beach Chalet is adorned with exceptional WPA era murals depicting scenes from the everyday life of the city and Golden Gate Park.
You might want to do this nearby virtual https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCC3C2
Please replace carefully and use caution if you cross the street. Lots of muggles eyes above. Be stealthy. No need to be in the street or trample foliage. Stay on the sidewalk. Tweezers are helpful.