PROJECTS
Marinship Survey and Historic Context Statement
LOCATION: Sausalito, California
CLIENT: City of Sausalito, California
DATE COMPLETED: 2011
Marinship is a historic World War II-era shipyard in northern Sausalito. It was one of six "Emergency" shipyards commissioned by the U.S. Maritime Commission in the Bay Area in early 1942. Unlike the much more famous Kaiser yards in Richmond, much remains of Marinship's World War II-era fabric. The 210-acre property contains 15 surviving major buildings, remnants of five slipways, railroad tracks and other evidence of the infrastructure required to build almost 100 Liberty ships and T-2 tankers between 1942 and 1945. The designs of the surviving buildings adhere to a minimalist industrial aesthetic as embodied by the structures' mass-produced modular wood construction, glu-lam bowstring truss roofs, and ribbon windows.
Working with the City of Sausalito, Chris VerPlanck surveyed the entire shipyard to identify all remaining buildings, structures, and objects dating to the shipyard's construction in 1942. In addition he researched the construction and operational history of Marinship, culminating with the preparation of a historic context statement for the site. The final products included Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) 523 A and B forms for all remaining Marinship-related buildings and structures, annotated maps of these resources, and a Historic Context Statement analyzing the history of the site.
