{"nrhp_refnum":"76000480","name":"Hershell-Spillman Merry-Go-Round","other_names":["Tilden Park Merry-Go-Round"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"E of Berkeley in Tilden Regional Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Berkeley","county":"Contra Costa County","state":"CA","lat":37.90140826700008,"lon":-122.25697290299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-09-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1911 carousel built in New York by the Hershell-Spillman Company, installed since 1948 at the entrance to Lake Anza in Tilden Regional Park, near Berkeley, Contra Costa County, California.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a fine example of carousel folk art from the golden age of carousels, between 1900 and the Great Depression. It is described as one of about five classic carousels in California and one of 16 in the western United States. Its social value comes from its appeal across all ages and backgrounds, and from the need to keep it publicly available.","narrative":"Built in New York in 1911 by the Hershell-Spillman Company, this sixteen-section, three-abreast carousel has operated in several California locations, including San Bernardino, Oceanside and Griffith Park in Los Angeles, before settling at Lake Anza in Tilden Regional Park in 1948. It keeps 39 original hand-carved poplarwood animals, among them giraffes, zebras, frogs, a sea dragon and a tiger. A fourth row of cast aluminum animals and an enlarged outer cornice with new painted panels were added in 1950. The original Westinghouse motor still drives it, and two band organs provide music. A wood-frame building with a 5,000 square foot lamella dome, designed in 1937, houses the machine. The nomination presents it as a fine example of carousel folk art from the era before mass-produced metal animals replaced hand-carved ones. It is one of only a few classic carousels in California, and an estimated five million riders have enjoyed it since 1948.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Hershell-Spillman Company (carousel); structure plans designed in 1937 by J. Wilson of the Los Angeles Parks Department","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Marked occupied and in use as a park attraction. It was altered in 1950 and moved several times; the nomination notes a dispute over its lease in 1976.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.872671-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/76000480.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000480/dbae291096-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000480/dbae291096-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"EastshoreEmpire","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tilden_Park_Merry-Go-Round_Sea_Monster.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">EastshoreEmpire</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:Tilden_Park_Merry-Go-Round_Sea_Monster.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858538","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilden_Park_Merry-Go-Round","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7802097"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/contra-costa-county/hershell-spillman-merry-go-round-76000480/"}