Camp Reynolds, Band Master's Quarters, Angel Island State Park, Angel Island, Marin County, CA

Significance: Camp Reynolds was established on Angel Island in 1863 to enhance the coastal defenses of San Francisco Bay during the Civil War. In 1866 Camp Reynolds became the army's general depot for receiving and distributing new recruits in the West. From the 1860s through the 1880s a village of wood frame buildings including a chapel, officers' quarters, barracks, and various support structures was constructed and expanded. Now part of Angel Island State Park, Camp Reynolds features a remarkable collection of surviving late nineteenth-century army structures.
This officer's quarters dates to the expansion of Camp Reynolds in the post Civil War period. This building's idiosyncratic form represents the ad hoc nature of construction and repair at Angel Island and other isolated military installations. Located close to the wharf location and away from officer's row, this structure was used by lower ranking officers. including the band master during the late nineteenth century. During the early twentieth century the building was used by bachelor officers, creating a space for them separate from the families on officers' row but still distinct from the enlisted men. Construction of more modern officers' quarters at the East Garrison in the mid-1910s and years of hard use further reduced the status of this structure to quarters for non-commissioned officers in 1931.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N902
Survey number: HABS CA-1841-E
Building/structure dates: ca. 1870 Initial Construction