Herbert Fleishhacker (1872-1957) was born and died in San Francisco. His business ventures included a paper mill, a lumber company, electric power companies and banking. He lived his adult years in the St. Francis Hotel[1]. In 1918 Mayor James “Sunny” Rolph[2] appointed Fleishhacker president of the San Francisco Parks Commission. Fleishhacker, on the City’s behalf, bought 80 acres from the Spring Valley Water Company[3] in the Sunset District[4] and shepherded the building of Fleishhacker Pool, a saltwater swimming pool located at Sloat and The Great Highway.
When Fleishhacker Pool opened in 1925 it was the largest swimming pool in the world. Yards from the ocean, it was built because of the dangerous riptides at Ocean Beach[5]. 4,000 people visited the pool that first week, with 50 lifeguards on duty. Measuring 1,000 x 150 feet and holding 6.5 million gallons of saltwater pumped in from the Pacific Ocean, it could accommodate 10,000 swimmers and was so big that many of the lifeguards on duty patrolled in row boats. 56-degree ocean water was pumped in during high tide and pumped out during low tide. The pool was heated, but the temperature never got above 72 degrees and usually hovered closer to 65 degrees. It was such a large body of water that choppy waves would often develop. There was a ornate two-tiered diving tower, swings and a diving board at the 14 foot deep end. Grates kept ocean debris out and the story that a shark was once spotted in the pool is an urban legend. There was no way, however, to prevent the accumulation of sand on its bottom, and every so often the pool had to be drained and the sand shoveled out.
On the west side of the pool was a huge Bath House with a distinctive green glazed tile roof and sea creature reliefs. It contained a cafeteria, an emergency care facility, changing rooms and lockers for 800 swimmers, and tunnels that went under the Great Highway[6] to Ocean Beach. Opposite to the Bath House was the Mothers Building, commissioned by the Fleishhacker brothers in honor of their mother Delia. Designed by George Kellem (best known for designing the original Public Library, now the Asian Art Museum[7]), it has a red clay tile roof, pillars, archways and stucco plaster urns. During the Great Depression[8], the WPA paid for local female artists to decorate both the interior and exterior of the building. The upper interior walls sport a mural depicting Noah’s Ark. The exterior walls are decorated with colorful animal-themed mosaics. There was a large wading pool just outside the Mothers Building, surrounded by sand.
The majority of San Francisco residents, like my mother Anne, only went to Fleishhacker Pool once. Persistent fog and wind, and freezing water temperatures made Fleishhacker Pool less desirable than Sutro Baths[9] located on the opposite end of Ocean Beach. Fleishhacker Pool did host swim meets and Olympic tryouts: Olympic medal-winner Ann Curtis set world records there. The military also used the pool for drills and exercises.
Unfortunately, Fleishhacker Pool never paid for itself. In the 1940s there was a proposal to turn the pool into an ice rink, but these plans never came to fruition. When a storm in January 1971 damaged the drainage pipe, the pool was shut down and the Bath House was used as a recreation center for the handicapped until it moved to a new location. Both the pool and the Bath House remained closed for decades. In 1977 a ballot measure was put before voters to restore the pool, but it lost. There was talk of converting the Bath House into a community recreation center with a restaurant, but the building burned down on December 1, 2012. All that remains is the stone portal that can be seen from the San Francisco Zoo[10] parking lot.
In 1979 the Mothers Building was designated a National Landmark. For many years it became part of the entrance to the Zoo and contained the Zoo’s gift shop. In 1999 the Zoo was granted all of the land that once housed Fleishhacker Pool and in 2002 the pool was finally filled in and converted into a parking lot. The Zoo entrance was moved to just off the parking lot and because the Mothers Building was now in a remote part of the Zoo and not near any animal exhibits, it remained uninhabited and ignored. Despite being a National Landmark, it has not been open to the public for the past 20 years. Damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake[11], it needs a new roof and seismic retrofitting. Friends of the Mothers Building, which can be found on Facebook, is working to raise enough money to do the necessary repairs.
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[1] St. Francis Hotel: story coming March 21st [2] James “Sunny Jim” Rolph: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5365 [3] Spring Valley Water Company: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5194 [4] Sunset District: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4584 [5] Ocean Beach: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5243 [6] The Great Highway: story coming July 12th [7] The Asian Art Museum: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3086 [8] The Great Depression: story coming October 11th [9] Sutro Baths: story coming March 14th [10] San Francisco Zoo: story coming December 22nd [11] Loma Prieta Earthquake: story coming October 17th
