Guest Blogger - John A. Martini: Researching Sutro Baths

The San Francisco History Center is pleased to present historian John A. Martini speaking about his newest book, Sutro's Glass Palace on Saturday, March 15 at 10:30am in the Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room at the Main Library.

As a special treat, Mr. Martini has written a guest blog post for "What's On the 6th Floor" about writing his book and researching Sutro Baths at the San Francisco History Center.


Researching Sutro Baths

The ruins of Sutro Baths near the Cliff House are an iconic San Francisco landmark. Standing at the edge of Point Lobos, just below the Cliff House, the mysterious concrete ruins draw hundreds of urban explorers each day who try to decipher its network of tunnels and tanks and rusted rebar. Given that it’s such a well-known destination, the Baths’ history proved surprisingly hard to research.

When I began writing my book Sutro’s Glass Palace: The Story of Sutro Baths I was surprised how little had been written about the vanished structure. Although the vast bathhouse has been mentioned in numerous San Francisco histories, the references were usually either casual descriptions (“the largest indoor swimming complex in the world”) or full of conflicting information (especially dates of construction and destruction).

 Men and women posed in woolen bathing costumes in 1906. As the years progressed, women’s bathing dresses became shorter and lost the sleeves and stockings, while men’s suits remained virtually unchanged. (SFPL Minnich SFP-27)

To my delight, the collections of the San Francisco History Center proved to be a priceless source of primary information about Adolph Sutro’s grand palace. The collections included historic photographs, correspondence, artifacts (including a toddler’s Sutro Baths swimsuit), and endless memorabilia such as tickets, brochures, postcards, and certificates awarded swimmers and skaters.

Most valuable, though, were the original drawings and blueprints of the Baths, some dating back to the 1880s (SFPL BP-49). The drawings yielded important clues to perhaps the most vexing question historians had about the Baths: how did they operate? The solution came in the form of an undated linen drawing showing the Baths in its earliest configuration. The drawing, likely prepared for Sutro around 1889, shows a complex of outdoor concrete swimming tanks without any type of protective walls or overhead enclosure. It also revealed in detail how ocean water flowed into the tanks through a tunnel carved through Point Lobos, then into a circular settling pond, and finally to the pools via a network of connecting canals and sluice gates -- all operating via gravity. This drawing became my Rosetta Stone for understanding Sutro Baths.

 Elevation drawings for the north and south facades of the main bathhouse proved invaluable to illustrators who recreated Sutro Baths in 3-D CAD drawings. (SFPL BP-49-009)

Other drawings revealed how Adolph Sutro’s vision evolved from a simple open air “swimming station” to a two-and-a-half acre, ten-story wooden bathhouse containing seven swimming pools, boiler plant, pumps, electrical generators, museum displays, endless changing rooms, and a menagerie of stuffed animals. Other drawings, prepared many years later, documented upgrades and remodeling efforts during the 1930s and ‘40s. These included pastel drawings prepared by San Francisco architect Harold G. Stoner, showing the main entrance on Point Lobos Avenue transformed into an art deco polychrome wonder.

Architect Harold G. Stoner’s color drawing of a new grand entrance to Sutro Baths. The art deco-ish facade actually existed from 1934 to 1953.

Other collections at the History Center provided insights into the rise and fall of Sutro Baths: photographs of swimmers wearing a dizzying array of bathing costumes; a 1934 brochure touting new dining and dancing at the remodeled Baths; newspaper clippings about plans for demolishing and redeveloping the Baths site; coverage of the June 1966 fire that destroyed the building; and negotiations for purchase the empty land as open space in the 1970s. One file yielded Kodak color slides taken inside the Baths in 1952. These documented the interior color schemes and stained glass windows, and provided an invaluable reference for the artists who prepared the illustrations for my book.

As an author and researcher, my only frustration with the History Center’s collections was that there wasn’t enough room in my book to include them all. What a great place.

-John A. Martini
Historical Consultant
Author Sutro’s Glass Palace
http://www.holeintheheadpress.com/hith_Sutro.html