{"nrhp_refnum":"79000256","name":"LEWIS ARK (Houseboat)","other_names":["The Ark"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Hyde St. Pier","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Francisco","county":"San Francisco","state":"CA","lat":37.80941061900006,"lon":-122.42148457799999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wooden houseboat, or \"ark\", about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, built around 1906 probably at or near Belvedere, Marin County. It is now displayed at the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the ark is a typical example of the San Francisco Bay houseboats that were developed in the 1880s, and the last essentially unaltered one. It represents a type of maritime residential architecture that has vanished from the Bay. It is regarded as locally significant.","narrative":"Built around 1906, probably at or near Belvedere in Marin County, the Lewis Ark is a wooden houseboat about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, with a rounded barge-like bottom and a one-story house of six rooms. A roofed veranda encircles it. Inside are dark wood paneling, sliding doors, built-in beds, closets and dressers, a brick and iron fireplace, a galley with original cupboards and an ice box, and a pump organ from about 1915. Houseboats like this, called arks, were a San Francisco Bay phenomenon from the 1880s, used as summer homes and, after the 1906 earthquake and fire, as refuge homes. Many were trapped in a Belvedere lagoon when a drawbridge was made permanent in 1939. The ark took its name from Rear Admiral Robert Lewis, who lived aboard from 1959 to 1968. It was donated to the state, moved to Hyde Street Pier in 1969, and is valued as the last essentially unaltered example of its kind.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition; moved to Hyde Street Pier in 1969 and open for public display as a museum exhibit since late 1969. The form checks the status as unoccupied.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.344675-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/79000256.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861192","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-francisco/lewis-ark-houseboat-79000256/"}