{"nrhp_refnum":"00001167","name":"San Diego Veterans' War Memorial Building-Balboa Park","other_names":["Veteran's War Memorial Building, Balboa Park"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3325 Zoo Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Diego","county":"San Diego County","state":"CA","lat":32.73875845500004,"lon":-117.14810346299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-09-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, C-shaped municipal auditorium and meeting hall in the northern part of Balboa Park's Central Mesa, at 3325 Zoo Drive, San Diego, completed in 1950 as a living war memorial.","why_significant":"The building is significant under Criterion A as a local example of a \"Living Memorial Building,\" a useful public building dedicated to San Diegans who served and died in World War II. It reflects the nationwide Living Memorial Movement and has served as a social and recreation center for 50 years. It is also described as a rare early 1950s Contemporary Modern public building in San Diego.","narrative":"Completed in 1950 in the northern part of Balboa Park's Central Mesa, this one-story building serves as a meeting hall, public auditorium and war memorial. Its design by architects John S. Siebert and Samuel W. Hamill combines a reinforced concrete auditorium with two wood-framed side wings that embrace a raised brick terrace. The east front has seven recessed bays with terrazzo-covered piers, aluminum-framed glass walls, bronze memorial plaques and two stylized stone eagles. Inside, a terrazzo-floored memorial foyer, wood-paneled lockers and an auditorium with a serrated steel-truss ceiling remain largely unchanged. The idea for a veterans' memorial building dates to 1943, when a far larger downtown scheme was proposed. The building that resulted reflects the Living Memorial Movement, in which communities honored war dead with useful buildings instead of statues. It has served local clubs and veterans' groups for fifty years, and its Contemporary Modern styling is considered rare among early 1950s public buildings in San Diego.","period_of_significance":"1950","architect_builder":"Architects John S. Siebert, A.I.A., and Samuel W. Hamill, A.I.A.; Francis E. Young, general contractor","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: Contemporary Modern Style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"In continuous use as a meeting hall, public auditorium and war memorial; in good condition with minor repairs needed to gutters, front terrace bricks and some north entry window panels.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:26.920083-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/00001167.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001167/8d29896320-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001167/8d29896320-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"RightCowLeftCoast","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:San_Diego_Veterans_War_Memorial_Building_-_3.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">RightCowLeftCoast</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:San_Diego_Veterans_War_Memorial_Building_-_3.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860980","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5818065"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-diego-county/san-diego-veterans-war-memorial-building-balboa-park-00001167/"}