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Styled in the Spanish colonial mode, the Beach Chalet was the last design by well-known San Francisco architect Willis Polk and was completed in 1925 for the city's Recreation and Parks Department. Originally a changing house for beachgoers with a restaurant upstairs, today, the Beach Chalet is a brewery and restaurant located at the western end of Golden Gate Park, overlooking the ocean. A grant-funded renovation project took place in the historic building until 1996. Gar and Lara Truppelli and Timon Mallory leased the second floor and turned it into the brewpub in 1997 after the historic building had been unoccupied for years. The building features historic painted murals by artist Lucien Labaudt and sea-inspired wood carvings by Michael Von Meyer, commissioned by the Works Progress Administration during the 1930s and restored beginning in 1981. The ground floor houses the Golden Gate Park visitor center and the Park Chalet restaurant; upstairs is the Beach Chalet restaurant, with sweeping views of the Pacific.


Beach Chalet in 2008 photo (Sanfranman59)

Hacienda, Villa, Inn

Labault mural on first floor of Beach Chalet showing a port scene (photo by Richard A. Walker 2021)

Labault mural on first floor of Beach Chalet showing a port scene (photo by Richard A. Walker 2021)

Beach scene with an unfinished Golden Gate Bridge in the background (Walker 2021)

Beach scene with an unfinished Golden Gate Bridge in the background (Walker 2021)

Labaudt painted himself into one of the murals (he is the man reading the paper)

Labaudt painted himself into one of the murals (he is the man reading the paper)

Labaudt painted fellow muralist Swiss-Italian Gottardo Piazzoni; detail of mural on south wall (Walker 2021)

Labaudt painted fellow muralist Swiss-Italian Gottardo Piazzoni; detail of mural on south wall (Walker 2021)

"Sea Creatures" magnolia wood carving in the staircase by Michael Von Meyer (Richard A. Walker 2021)

"Sea Creatures" magnolia wood carving in the staircase by Michael Von Meyer (Richard A. Walker 2021)

Exterior of Beach Chalet in 1981 photo (Seth Curlin)

Exterior of Beach Chalet in 1981 photo (Seth Curlin)

This two-story building was designed by Willis Polk for the city's Recreation and Parks Department and was completed in 1925, the year after Polk's death. Polk's stepson, Austin Moore, reorganized the Willis Polk Company in December 2024 and announced that their work in progress, the Beach Chalet, would be finished at once, at a cost of $60,000. The Polk design included a ground floor arcade with eight pairs of Doric columns. The stucco-covered building was topped by a terra cotta barrel tile-covered, low hipped roof. A six-foot-wide mosaic of the Seal of the Parks Commission decorated the front porch. Initially used as a changing room for those wishing to venture into the ocean with a cafe upstairs, it replaced an earlier, wood frame building known as the Swiss Chalet designed by W. Q. Banks that dated to 1900.

The cafe became a popular place year-round with its views of the ocean. It was closed for a while in January 1928 so that a new heating system could be installed. Diners were supplied decks of cards to use for free in a post-meal game of bridge or whist. Sisters Hattie and Minnie Mooser operated the restaurant beginning in 1930 and converted it into a tearoom. The frescoes, mosaics, and wood carvings on the ground floor were added in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration, a federal program. The beautiful murals were painted by French painter and designer Lucien Labaudt and depicted San Franciscan life during the Great Depression. Earth pigment colors were directly brushed onto a wet plaster surface; only a two-foot-wide section could be worked on while it stayed wet, so it took over a year to finish the murals. It was Labaudt's aim that people without an understanding of art would still recognize and enjoy the subject. Labaudt also designed and directed the tile work, created by Primo Caredio, and magnolia wood carvings done by sculptor Michael von Meyer, including the intricate balustrade along the stairs leading to the second floor, with octopus newel posts, mermaids, deep-sea divers, old ships, and a sea monster.

The building was commandeered by the Army during the Second World War and used as a barracks for defending the coast and operating the nearby signal station. After the war, the building was boarded up for two years and then was leased by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for use as a social hall. The VFW operated a bar on the first floor and used the second-floor space for meetings and special events. As the years went on it developed a rather bad reputation until the VFW eventually moved out in 1979. The building stood empty for two years before a grant-funded $1.5-million restoration project began to restore the artwork and the building; the work was finished in 1996. Former San Francisco State U. students Lara and Gar Truppelli then leased the second-floor space for their first restaurant and a microbrewery. The 135-seat dining room with its wall of windows, open for lunch and dinner, and the bar with stainless-steel tanks for Scott Turnridge's beers proved to be a very popular gathering place. By 2002, eight microbrews were offered at the restaurant. Ales are now handcrafted at the Chalet Ales & Lagers Brewery elsewhere in the city and both restaurants offer bars and event rentals.

Anonymous. "Willis Polk Company to be Reorganized." Daily News Leader (San Mateo) December 20th, 1924. 5-5.

Anonymous. "Park Attractions." Mill Valley Record (Mill Valley) January 14th, 1928. 6-6.

Anonymous. "Romance at the Beach." Skyline View, Skyline College (San Bruno) September 30th, 2002. 5-5.

Beach Chalet. Brewery, Beach Chalet. January 1st, 2025. Accessed May 20th, 2025. https://www.beachchalet.com/brewery#chaletbrewery.

Blauvelt, Molly. NRHP nomination, Beach Chalet, San Francisco CA. National Register of Historic Places. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1980.

City of S.F. Recreation and Parks Department. Beach Chalet. Accessed April 16, 2017. http://sfrecpark.org/destination/golden-gate-park/beach-chalet/.

Eichelbaum, Stanley. "Dining: Great New Places around the Bay Area." Mill Valley Herald (Mill Valley) February 3rd, 1997. 6-6.

Golden Gate Park. Beach and Park Chalet. Accessed April 16, 2017. https://goldengatepark.com/beach-and-park-chalet.html.

U.C. Berkeley Geography Department. Beach Chalet: Staircase Sculptures - San Francisco CA, Living New Deal. Accessed May 19th, 2025. https://livingnewdeal.org/sites/beach-chalet-staircase-sculpture-san-francisco-ca/.

U.C. Berkeley Geography Department. Beach Chalet: Fresco Mural Cycle - San Francisco CA, Living New Deal. Accessed May 19th, 2025. https://livingnewdeal.org/sites/beach-chalet-fresco-mural-cycle-san-francisco-ca/.

Untapped Cities. Architecture Spotlight: The Beach Chalet. Accessed April 16, 2017. http://untappedcities.com/2012/04/20/architecture-spotlight-the-beach-chalet/.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_Chalet#/media/File:Beach_Chalet_(San_Francisco).JPG

https://livingnewdeal.org/sites/beach-chalet-fresco-mural-cycle-san-francisco-ca/#lg=1&slide=2

https://livingnewdeal.org/sites/beach-chalet-fresco-mural-cycle-san-francisco-ca/#lg=1&slide=6

https://livingnewdeal.org/sites/beach-chalet-fresco-mural-cycle-san-francisco-ca/#lg=1&slide=12

https://livingnewdeal.org/sites/beach-chalet-staircase-sculpture-san-francisco-ca/#lg=1&slide=2

National Park Service (NPS): https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/81000172