Preservation

• Reconstructing Fort Baker's historic porches

• Restoring a historic military parade ground

• Historic railroad tracks in waterfront pier shed

• Preserving and maintaining Battery Chamberlin

 

Preservation at Golden Gate National Recreation Area

At Golden Gate, one of our most imporant jobs is to protect, preserve and rehabilitate our cultural resources, including historic buildings, landscapes, archeology, artifacts and structures. Before we start any project, we conduct research to fully understand the historic significance of the resource, evaluate different alternatives to determine how a project will impact a resource, and make decisions to ensure the future of the resource.

 

Examples of Park Preservation Projects:

• Preservation on Alcatraz
• Stripping a hundred years of paint from historic metal ceilings
• Installing electricity in Battery Townsley, a World War II gun battery
• Reconstructing historic porches from original plans
• Removing lead paint and preserving Battery Chamberlin
• The discovery of historic railroad tracks in a large military embarkation shed
• Using cultural landscape design to reconstruct a historic military parade ground

 

Preservation Considerations, Tools & Resources

• The Park's five National Historic Landmarks
• Archeology at Golden Gate
• Golden Gate's Museum Collection and Park Archives & Records Center

 

What is Historic Preservation?

"Historic preservation" is the act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the exiting form, integrity and materials of a historic property. For example, a preservation project can be converting a historic army barracks into an office building or re-using a historic airplane hangar as a small aviation museum. All National Park Service preservation projects must comply with national standards and guidelines. The preservation guidelines exist to ensure that careful analysis is conducted before the professionals make any physical changes to historic structures and landscapes. Because of these preservation guidelines, you should be able to walk into that new office building or aviation museum and still feel and understand how that historic building was originally used.

Learn more about how the National Park Service celebrates American history

To learn more the National Park Service's American History, various Heritage Initiatives, Thematic Frameworks and service-wide historic preservation prjoects, please visit Discover History and Historic Preservation in the National Park Service