The Presidio Chapel
Interfaith Center at the Presidio
A Path to Future Service
The Interfaith Center at the Presidio
The Post Chapel at the Presidio of San Francisco was built in 1931 to honor and minister to the nation’s armed forces, veterans and their families. In 1996, a year after the Presidio passed into civilian hands, the Interfaith Center at the Presidio (ICP) was granted a programmatic lease to expand the religious role of the Chapel. In restoring a historic sanctuary to meet the needs of an interfaith public for the 21st century, the ideas are big and the issues profound. One of the design challenges is to create appropriate space for those religions whose followers do not use pews but gather in circles, kneel or sit on the floor or worship outside.
The Chapel has always served multiple faiths. Services were held for Protestants, Catholics and Jews from the beginning. Now, denominations using the Interfaith Center include the faiths of religious groups the world over.
For the Chapel to continue serving people of all faiths, all spaces must be accessible and usable.
Honoring Sacred Space: A Place of Faith in the 21st Century
For the Interfaith Center to continue meeting the spiritual needs of all people, the building must be modernized; made safe, and remain welcoming. The new design will:
• Reconfigure and expand the Chapel for future ceremonies, concerts and lectures, as well as other gatherings.
• Renovate the ground floor level to accommodate needs for worship, events, and offices.
• Create a beautiful outdoor space for meditation, quiet reflection, and special celebrations.
• Design gallery space for display of The McDonald Windows as well as other uses.
• Restore the Chapel’s historic pipe organ.
• Repair the Chapel’s 33-foot Victor Arnautoff mural, “Peacetime Activities of the Army.”
• Repair and restore the Chapel’s magnificent existing stained glass windows.
• Provide seismic bracing of the roof and other upgrades to bring the building into compliance with building codes and ADA accessibility requirements and to respond to climate and energy mandates.
• Add an elevator and accessible restrooms; install new plumbing, electrical and heating systems, and update the facility’s kitchen.
• Improve entranceways and exterior landscaping so the Chapel is in harmony with its natural surroundings.
Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.
— Joseph Campbell
Garden
Designed to be used for outdoor religious services, weddings, and social events.
East Porch and Connection to Lower Level
The East Porch contains a historic mural executed in 1935 by artist Victor Arnautoff and porch connection to the east office and Sanctuary. An exterior staircase provides additional access to the Lower Level.
Existing Chapel
Addition
In addition to galleries, there will be visitor services and administrative spaces, with access to all levels
Viewpoint
New Main Entry
This accessible new entrance will be clearly visible, adjacent to parking, and welcoming.
National Cemetery
The San Francisco National Cemetery at the Presidio of San Francisco, while under separate administration, is spiritually connected to the Presidio Chapel.
1. EXISTING STAIR
2. VIETNAM VETERAN MEMORIAL, LOCATION BY TRUST
3. ARBOR
4. EVENT LAWN
5. GARDEN SEATING WITH COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUES
6. HEDGES
7. GATHERING SPACE WITH WATER FEATURE
8. WORSHIP CIRCLE WITH FIRE RING
9. MEDITATION GARDEN
10. MECHANICAL ENCLOSURE
11. SOUTH ENTRY
12. SLOPED WALK
13. EXISTING TREES TO REMAIN
14. ADA PARKING
15. TIMBER SEATING ELEMENT
16. BICYCLE PARKING
17. CEMETERY TRAIL RE-ROUTE BY TRUST
18. PARKING
19. CHAPLAIN MEMORIAL
20. GALLERY ENTRY COURTYARD
21. PLANTED TERRACES
22. LOWER COURT WITH FOOT WASHING STATION
23. CHAPEL OVERLOOK WITH COMPASS ROSE
24. INTERPRETIVE MARKER
25. ROLLED CURB
26. GRASSES WITH NATIVE PLANTINGS
LIGHT WELL
A SLOPED WALK
Upper Level Floor Plan
GALLERY AND SECONDARY ENTRY
GALLERY TERRACE
NEW LANDSCAPE AND STAIRS
ENTRY PLAZA
ENTRY HALL
GALLERY PRE FUNCTION
MCDONALD WINDOWS
GALLERY SPACE ACCESSIBILITY
INTERPRETATIVE DISPLAY
SERVICE ENTRY
VESTRY APSE
FRONT ENTRY DOORS
TOWER STAIRS
ORGAN ROOM
BRIDE’S ROOM WC CL HALLWAY
RESTORATION OF THE MAIN HALL
NEW STUCCO WALLS AND STAIR
MURAL ROOM
RESTORATION OF THE STAIRS
NEW STAIRS
Historic Building
New Addition
Existing Wall
New Wall
SINGLE STALL RESTROOMS
ICP OFFICE SUITE
Lower Level Floor Plan
NEW LOWER TERRACE
IFC EXECUTIVE OFFICE
Historic Building
New Addition
Existing Wall
New Wall
IFC OFFICE SUITE LOWER HALL
ACCESSIBLE ENTRY
THE MCDONALD GALLERY
STAIR AND ELEVATOR
LIGHT WELL
OFFICES AND SERVICE
LOWER ENTRY
EXISTING SANCTUARY
LOWER WORSHIP AND MEETING SPACE
VESTIBULE
EAST PORCH
STAIR TO GARDEN
Historic Building
New Addition
Existing Wall
New Wall
The Rev. Frederick McDonald
Fred McDonald was born in 1908 and raised in Seattle. He attended the University of Washington, followed by The General Theological Seminary in New York.
Ordained in 1934, he served in parishes in Oregon and Washington and traveled often. When U.S. participation in World War II began, he applied to become a Chaplain and was ordered to Harvard for training in September 1942.
His most important wartime post was as Chaplain in Gen. Omar Bradley’s headquarters during the final months of the war, from summer 1944 through V-E Day. On May 8 of 1945 he preached, on a national broadcast by NBC, a sermon of thanksgiving.
Remembered Light: A
Home for the McDonald Windows
As Bradley’s headquarters moved towards Germany, Fred visited as many houses of worship as he could. Almost invariably the buildings had been bombed, and shards of glass littered every floor. He began collecting some of these shards, separating them into envelopes, and mailing them home, where his family filed them for safekeeping.
He told the story of the shards many times, but as he approached his late 80s his friends insisted that he make something of them. He first thought of building a single large window, but Armelle Le Roux, a stained glass artist, suggested that shards from different places should be part of different works of art. The result was 25 separate works. These works (some translucent and others opaque) constitute the Windows.
A description of the Windows exhibition, known as “Remembered Light,” can be found online at www.rememberedlight.org.
Twenty-five McDonald Windows will be on exhibition
The Main Gallery is a flexible space that will allow for gatherings and individual contemplation
The landscaped plaza offers sweeping views over the National Cemetery and across the Presidio to the Marin Headlands
Interfaith Center at the Presidio
P. O. Box 29055
130 Fisher Loop
San Francisco, California 94129 (415) 561-3930
presidiointerfaith@gmail.com www.interfaithpresidio.org
The Interfaith Center at the Presidio [ICP] is a San Francisco Bay Area interfaith friendshipbuilding nonprofit organization, welcoming people of all faiths. The Center is
• An inter-religious advocate of peacemaking among religions, locally and globally.
• A regional resource for developing relationships among the diverse religious communities of the Bay Area.
• A resource for ministering to veterans and their families and honoring those who have sacrificed their lives for their country.
We at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio invite you to join us in funding the changes to the Presidio Chapel described here. Any amount you send will be gratefully received and will be tax-deductible as prescribed by law.
Our website, www.interfaithpresidio.org, contains instructions that indicate how to donate in various ways. Or you may scan the QR code to the right with your mobile device.
Scan to Donate
Project Team
Architect Page & Turnbull Structural Engineers DCI Engineers M/E/P & Environmental Engineer
Arup North America Civil Engineer Oberkamper Associates Landscape Architect
CMG Landscape Architecture Exhibit Designer The Sibbett Group Pre-Construction & Cost
Plant Construction Lead Artist for McDonald Windows Project Armelle Le Roux