Presidio Water Treatment Plant, East of Lobos Creek at Baker Beach, San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA

Significance: The Presidio Water Treatment Plant has played a significant role in the Presidio's history by providing the post with a self-sufficient water supply, independent of city sources or facilities. As a complex, it appears much as it did at the time of its construction in 1910-1912. The Plant continues to draw its water supply from the Lobos Creek aquifer, which has been the Presidio's primary source of water sine 1857. The Plant's site has housed water supply facilities of one sort or another since that time. The creek also provided the city of San Francisco with its water supply during the second half of the nineteenth century. Four of the extant Water Treatment Plant buildings, the Valve House (#1771), the Filtration Plant (#1773), the Chemical Storage Building (#1776), and the Head House (#1779), together with the Clearwell (#1770) and the Floccculation/Sedimentation Basins (#1778), date from the 1910-ca.1912 construction period. The buildings, particularly the Filtration Plant, Valve House, and Chemical Storage Building, are significant owing to their intact architectural features and water treatment equipment. Structures #1770, 1771, 1773, 1776, 1778 and 1779 are listed as contributing resources to the Presidio National Historic Landmark District.
Survey number: HAER CA-155
Building/structure dates: 1912 Initial Construction