Cabrillo National Monument Visitor Center Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Cabrillo National Monument, National Park Service

Germano, Vida; Biscombe, Jason

The Cabrillo National Monument Visitor Center Historic District (Visitor Center Historic District) was constructed in 1963‑1967 as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 Program. Located off of State Highway 209 (Cabrillo Memorial Drive), the District is sited 360 feet above the Pacific Ocean near the southern end of Point Loma, a narrow six ‑mile‑long peninsula at the entrance to San Diego Bay within the Cabrillo National Monument. The Visitor Center Historic District is a significant Mission 66 design that takes into account the views provided by the southern California coastal location. The landscape design, including the site layout, grading, circulation features, two overlooks, and planting design, was the work of the National Park Service's Western Office of Design and Construction. The Visitor Center's three buildings were designed by noted California architect Frank L. Hope & Associates. The district has a high concentration of contributing resources that are in excellent condition. Although the property has undergone some alterations to the setting and buildings, these changes meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and do not diminish the overall integrity of the district. The District continues to exhibit the design and planning intent of the Mission 66 era and retains integrity of setting, location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. The major components of the Visitor Center Historic District include the three Visitor Center buildings and associated overlook terraces, the Cabrillo Memorial Statue Overlook, the Ballast Overlook, an entry drive and a large central parking lot, a series of pedestrian pathways that provide access to and connections between the other components, and plant materials that provide a transition between the designed and the natural landscape. The Visitor Center is orientated north to south on the site and consists of three separate buildings connected by covered breezeways and terraces. The northernmost building of the complex, the View Building, is a glass‑walled pavilion offering commanding views of the San Diego coast. The Exhibits/Auditorium Building and Administration Building are opposite one another south of the View Building. The Cabrillo National Monument Visitor Center Historic District is significant for its association with the nationwide National Park Service program Mission 66. The Visitor Center Historic District is an excellent example of the modern style of architecture and the only example of the Mission 66 objectives in a southern California context. The period of significance is 1963-1967. This period encompasses the first phase of construction, which that included grading, the realignment of the entrance road, and construction of the parking area and adjacent pedestrian pathways to when the final landscaping was accepted by the Park Service. The three buildings in the Visitor Center Historic District were completed and occupied by March 1966, and the official dedication of the Visitor Center was in October 1966. The term Visitor Center was coined by Mission 66 planners. Visitor centers combined features of several existing NPS building types to provide the efficiency needed to handle increased visitation in the parks after WWII. Museum, administrative offices, information, and interpretation, as well as restrooms, all rolled into a "one‑stop" shopping experience. Siting of these new visitor centers was critical to circulate people and cars and intercept them at critical points. Locating centers as close to the resources was done to strengthen the interpretive message. It was desirable to provide significant views of the resources from viewing terraces or through lobby windows to facilitate interpretative talks.

Cabrillo National Monument Visitor Center Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Cabrillo National Monument, National Park Service

Series

Collections