Home > California > Pescadero vicinity > Pigeon Point Lighthouse, State Highway 1, Pescadero, San Mateo County, CA
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Item Title
Pigeon Point Lighthouse, State Highway 1, Pescadero, San Mateo County, CA
LocationState Highway 1,
Pescadero vicinity, CA
Find maps of Pescadero, CA
Created/Published
Documentation compiled after 1933.
Notes
Survey number HABS CA-1997
Unprocessed field note material exists for this structure (FN-192).
Building/structure dates:
1871 initial construction
Lighthouse has rotating gear, & the complex has a watch house.
Original working drawings are located at the National Archives.
Significance: This was the earliest lighthouse on the west coast to have a First-irder lens. The lighthouse was automated in 1974 and has been in continual service since it was built. The original lens is still in place and could be operable. / Named after the clipper ship the "Carrier Pigeon," which was wrecked at the point in 1853, the site was chosen for a first order light station in 1871, which included a lighthouse, fog signal, and keeper's house. The 114 foot brick tower was completed in October, 1872; and the 1008 piece French-made lens was installed the following month. The tower and attached service house exhibit architectural features typical of the 1860's adapted to the particular needs of the light station. Ornamentation in the design of the conical tower, which rises from an eight-sided base, was restricted to the three prominent windows. All are enframed by projecting brick segmental arches and pilasters supporting a simple cornice and resting on a sill of rusticated stone. The cantilevered iron gallery encircling the tower is supported by sixteen elaborate cast iron brackets. The two-room service house, now the power station, was designed in the traditional "cottage" style house-form though highly restrained and of brick construction rather than wood. The simple rectangular building on its raised foundation is pierced only by windows at the gable ends where square corbelled chimneys rise above the ridge and in the front by the oversized hooded doorway. Though no longer manned, the light station continues to service those at sea and remains unscathed by earthquakes, storms, or modern replacement.
Subjects
Brick BuildingsLighthouses
Collection
Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)
Contents
Photograph caption(s):
1. GENERAL VIEW FROM SOUTH
2. GENERAL VIEW FROM NORTH
3. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER AND WATCH HOUSE FROM EAST
4. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER FROM SOUTHWEST
5. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER AND WATCH HOUSE FROM NORTHWEST
6. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER BASE FROM NORTHWEST
7. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER BASE FROM NORTHWEST, DETAIL
8. WATCH HOUSE, NORTHEAST FRONT AND NORTHWEST SIDE
9. WATCH HOUSE, NORTHEAST FRONT, DETAIL OF DOORWAY
10. WATCH HOUSE, NORTHWEST SIDE
11. WATCH HOUSE, SOUTHEAST SIDE
12. WATCH HOUSE INTERIOR, FIREPLACE, SOUTHEAST WALL
13. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER INTERIOR, SPIRAL STAIRCASE
14. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER INTERIOR, SPIRAL STAIRCASE, DETAIL OF NEWEL POST
15. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER INTERIOR, DETAIL SHOWING IRON STAIR AND PORTION OF ROTATING GEAR
16. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER INTERIOR, DETAIL OF ROTATING GEAR AT BASE OF LANTERN. Note brass plate, 'Henry LePaute a Paris.'
17. LIGHTHOUSE TOWER INTERIOR, DETAIL OF FRESNEL LENS
18. Photocopy of photograph Arthur Spaulding Co., photographer ca. 1921 GENERAL VIEW FROM NORTH
19. Photocopy of photograph Arthur Spaulding Co., Photographer March, 1928 GENERAL VIEW FROM NORTH
GENERAL VIEW FROM NORTH
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