Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District

	Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. Historic district
	View of Pier 1 with Downtown San Francisco in background
Location	Piers 1, 1½, 3 and 5,; The Embarcadero; San Francisco, California
Coordinates	37°47′58″N 122°23′42″W / 37.79944°N 122.39500°W
Area	6.6 acres (2.7 ha)
Built	1918
Architectural style	Beaux Arts
NRHP reference No.	02001390
Added to NRHP	November 20, 2002

The Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District is a

Embarcadero waterfront road.^[1] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places

in 2002.

Construction

With construction spanning over a decade and led by Chief Engineer of the State Harbor Commission, Frank G. White, Piers 1, 1½, 3 and 5, were opened in 1918. Unlike the piers south of the

Mission and Gothic Revival styles, the piers north of the Ferry Building were built in the Beaux-Arts architecture style, similar to New York City's Chelsea Piers. The timber-frame bulkhead buildings, covered in stucco, are each two stories high, punctuated by two-story arches. Behind these formal building are the areas more closely associated with the functioning of the port—the piers and transit sheds. Concrete or timber piers extend east behind the bulkhead buildings, connected to the system of wharves upon which the bulkhead buildings rest. Steel truss

and timber-frame buildings, accommodating the loading and unloading of ships are built upon the piers, with open aprons for circulation.

Early history

These were the only group of piers in the

freight

shipping, with a variety of companies sharing the bulkhead office and warehouse spaces and the huge transit sheds which originally extended the full length of the finger piers for more than 700 feet (212 m) east from the wharf on the Embarcadero.

World War II

The San Francisco waterfront piers played a crucial role in the

antiaircraft guns and searchlights at piers along the waterfront from 1941 to 1942. The Coast Guard, Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Maritime Service Enrolling Office

occupied Pier 5.

Modern times

After the war, the piers fell into disuse, as ports in Oakland,

Market Street

, still the main thoroughfare of the city.

In January 2001, San Francisco based Pacific Waterfront Partners, LLC was selected by the Port of San Francisco to redevelop the historic Piers 1½, 3 and 5. The project focuses on preserving and rehabilitating the historic maritime design of the Northeast Waterfront and the Ferry Building Waterfront while enhancing the public use and access to the historic and scenic waterfront setting.^[2]