Last updated: March 3, 2021
Place
5 - Officer's Row
WAYSIDE PANEL TITLE: Officer's Row
PANEL DESCRIPTION: The wayside faces north and is on the sidewalk that lines the east side of Franklin Street. An offshoot of Franklin Street cuts horizontally just ahead of you towards the General's Residence.
VIEW FROM WAYSIDE: The wayside stands on a small brick square that extends from the sidewalk into the surrounding lawn. The sidewalk continues north and is lined by lawn and trees. The chapel is across the street to your left. It is a white building with a terracotta clay roof. The windows are narrow and ornately paned. Officers' quarters extend up the street past the chapel. The walls are white and horizontally paneled, and the roofs are green. They are like the General's Residence in style, but they are smaller. The sidewalk is lined by parallel parking spaces to your left. The lawn stretches to your right, intersected by a path and dotted with trees. The General's Residence is on the other side of this lawn.
TEXT: Preserving a Unique Army Post. Look ahead and picture an unpaved road with mule-drawn carts, soldiers on horseback, and strolling wives and children. This was Fort Mason's main street in the 19th century. The post's historic headquarters and first hospital stand ahead to the left. Sergeants lived in the modest quarters across the street and officers lived to your right in elegant homes facing away towards the bay. Ordinarily, military posts have living quarters surrounding and facing a central parade ground. But when the army arrived to build a post in 1863, "genteel squatters", as they were called, were already living here in homes overlooking the bay. The army forced these civilians to move on, and then converted many of their homes to officers' quarters, setting the stage for a unique army post.
What makes something worth preserving?
MAP: A map titled "Late 1800s layout of Fort Mason" is placed underneath the text. The map is oriented with north at the top and features an orange circle with the text "You Are Here" in the Southwest corner. From the "You Are Here" circle, one would be able to walk north from the Sergeants Quarters, to Post HQ, and then to the Hospital. Walking east from the Hospital leads to the Parade Grounds, Barracks, and the Stables. From here, walking south along the Parade Grounds would loop down to more barracks, and then walking southeast brings the path back past the Sergeants Quarters and to the "You Are Here" circle. Steep topography lies to the west of the "You Are Here" circle. There are three separate areas in this western region of the map labeled as "Officers' Quarters."
DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE: A black-and-white photo titled "Sergeants' Housing" and dated 1893 is in the bottom right corner. There are two simple buildings side-by-side. They are surrounded by a picket fence and a lawn. A horse drawn carriage waits on a wide road lining the fence.
CAPTION: The small homes across the street were army bachelor quarters converted to family housing. They look much as they did in the 1860s - except for the color. In the 1930s, many of the fort's buildings were repainted white and roofed with red shingles to suggest the then-popular Mission Revival style architecture.
DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE: A black-and-white photo titled "Officers' Housing" and dated 1908 is in the top right corner. The house is three stories, with a large porch and a balcony. The stately home is surrounded by grass, flowers, and trees.
CAPTION: Three of Fort Mason's oldest buildings still overlook the bay to your right. Built by private developers for prominent San Francisco citizens in the 1850s, the army confiscated the homes during the Civil War and modified them for officers' quarters. Today, the houses are leased as residences.
SIDEBAR: Heart of the Post.
DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE: An illustration depicts several soldiers, hats off, as a bugler plays in front of a flagpole flying the American flag.
TEXT: Fort Mason's flagpole once stood near the end of this road-the tree-covered circle in the street's center. The raising and lowering of the flag is a solemn ceremony on army posts. A lone bugle sounded as soldiers sent the flag up and down each morning and evening. On formal occasions, the post band performed. If you were within sight of the flagpole when the moment came, you would have stopped and turned your attention to the stars and stripes.
DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE: A black-and-white photo beneath the text is dated 1906. Women in fine dresses and hats, men in suits, and children stand in line as a soldier looks on. There are large crates stacked in front of Fort Mason's military houses in the background.
CAPTION: San Francisco citizens line up around the Fort Mason flagpole waiting for food rations after the 1906 earthquake.
DIRECTIONS TO NEXT WAYSIDE: Turn right from the sidewalk to travel northeast down the 60-foot stretch of the driveway for the General's Residence. Exercise caution and be aware of approaching cars. The sidewalk resumes on the left side of the road. Continue on this sidewalk for 169 feet, and then make a right and walk 6 feet. Make a left and walk 42 feet to the next wayside.