RON HENGGELER |
June 7, 2006
The Ferry Building and Huntington Falls in Golden Gate Park
‘In the late 19th century, the Ferry Building, with its conspicuous high clock tower, became the symbol of San Francisco more than any other landmark. Constructed in 1898, this harbor gateway was the hub of the Bay Area’s transportation system and ushered as many as 50 million passengers a year...more than any other transit terminal in the nation.’
WALKING SAN FRANCISCO on the Barbary Coast by Daniel Bacon
Quicksilver Press 1997
‘The terminal is patterned after a railroad station designed for the Columbian Exposition. The tower can be traced to the Piazza San Marco in Venice and the twelfth century Giralda Tower in Seville, Spain. The Ferry Building’s steel frame was constructed atop 5,000 Oregon pine piles and a reinforced concrete foundation, which was innovative in its day. The interior features a 656-foot long grand nave with a terrazzo floor bordered with red marble and walls of creamy, peach-colored Tennessee marble.’
NATIONAL TRUST GUIDE San Francisco by Peter Booth Wiley
Preservation Press 2000
Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park |
The photo was taken at dusk on the bridge at Huntington Falls in Golden Gate Park. The photo is by Ron Henggeler June 5.2006 One summer in the early 1890’s, ‘Park Superintendent John McLaren met with naturalist John Muir in the High Sierra Mountains. Muir showed the superintendent several natural cascades set among groves of grand sequoias. When McLaren returned to San Francisco, he described his idea of an artificial waterfall to W.W. Stow, the wealthy chair of the park commission. Stow agreed that this would be a wonderful addition to the park and took his friend, railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, for a buggy ride through the park, passing Strawberry Hill several times. (Huntington, considered ruthless by many, was one of the railroad barons and a former employer of Stow’s.) McLaren joined them for part of the ride, but it was Stow who convinced the tycoon that water tumbling down the slope would be a fine addition to the park. Two days later, Huntington gave Stow a check for the anticipated amount of $25,000. With skillful work by Stow and McLaren, the park did get its waterfall. The 110-foot-tall cascade started flowing on May 9, 1894, from its reservoir originally on the apex of Strawberry Hill—and then via a brooklet toward the cliff. The upper waterway was at some point abandoned, and water now flows from partway down the hill. The two wooden bridges allow aerial views over the length of the cascade, while imitation stones of concrete at the fall’s base permit stepping just inches from the foaming white torrent before it enters the lake. |
The Ferry Building |
Newsletters Index: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006
Photography Index | Graphics Index | History Index
Home | Gallery | About Me | Links | Contact
© 2015 All rights reserved
The images are not in the public domain. They are the sole property of the
artist and may not be reproduced on the Internet, sold, altered, enhanced,
modified by artificial, digital or computer imaging or in any other form
without the express written permission of the artist. Non-watermarked copies of photographs on this site can be purchased by contacting Ron.