Shipwright's Cottage

LOCATION: San Francisco, California
CLIENT: India Basin Neighborhood Association
DATE COMPLETED: 2008

In April 2008, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the designation of 900 Innes Avenue, aka the "Shipwright's Cottage," as San Francisco Landmark No. 260. This humble, plank-frame Victorian cottage was moved to its present site at 900 Innes Avenue ca. 1875 and for the next century or so it served as the home to generations of shipyard workers in the tiny wooden boat builders' community of India Basin, a section of San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point District. Within a community that has been largely denuded of symbols of its proud history, the Shipwright's Cottage remains as a rare reminder of San Francisco's working-class heritage and long tradition of wood boat building.

As a pro bono project Chris VerPlanck assisted the India Basin Neighborhood Association and local activist Erin Farrell draft and submit the local landmark nomination for the Carpenter Gothic cottage. He also appeared at various hearings at City commissions, including the Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board, the Planning Commission, and the Board of Supervisors to ensure that the controversial nomination was eventually approved.

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