A Closer Look: City College’s Oldest Structure
By Alejandra Cardenas
Its front entrance is held with strong vertical columns. The Art Deco building known as Science Hall was built in 1940, and is one of the very first buildings built on City College’s Ocean Campus.
Science Hall is historically significant for its architectural design. Designed in 1940 by architect Timothy Pflueger, the building's north and south exterior ends feature large mosaic-tile murals by Swiss-American artist Herman Volz. There are also monumental stone sculptures of Thomas Alva Edison and Leonardo De Vinci. The interior features two murals painted by Frederick Olmsted.
The Great Depression brought widespread deprivation across the community of San Francisco. There was an increase in unemployment and layoffs, resulting in an extensive resurgence of poverty and homelessness.
To combat the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s, San Franciscans demanded that education be more publicly accessible. Eventually, the passage of the New Deal in 1938 helped fund the construction of City College.
It was a high bill to pay: the construction cost was $2.8 million, and the money from the New Deal covered at least 45% of the cost, but it wasn’t enough – city voters were left to raise the remaining funds.
On Sept. 27, 1938, Proposition 4 was passed, which authorized the city to borrow funds to begin construction of the college campus.
As the college marks 90 years since its establishment, recent upgrades to Science Hall infrastructure include a fire alarm system upgrade and structural renovations for seismic safety. These upgrades were made to meet the requirements of the Division of the State Architect.
The college itself is not done with Science Hall, despite many science departments, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, having moved into the new STEAM building. Science Hall is going through renovations to restore the space. Other STEAM programs still call Science Hall home, such as math, physics, astronomy, earth sciences, engineering, and CNIT.
The future for Science Hall is bright. As it will remain throughout its restoration in its proud place on the hill, with steps leading up to the college motto, “The Truth Shall Make You Free.”
