{"nrhp_refnum":"91001093","name":"San Luis Obispo Light Station","other_names":["San Luis Obispo Light Station (Port Harford Lighthouse)"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Point San Luis","address_restricted":false,"city":"Avila Beach","county":"San Luis Obispo County","state":"CA","lat":35.161282092500045,"lon":-120.75785937745428,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-09-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation","Architecture","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 30-acre light station on a hillside ridge near the entrance to San Luis Obispo Harbor at Avila Beach, California, built in 1890 by the U.S. Lighthouse Board, 12th District. It has seven buildings and three structures, among them a tower/keeper's residence, fog-signal building and oil house.","why_significant":"The station is significant under Criterion A for its link to California's reliance on maritime transportation and navigation aids. Under Criterion C, it is an outstanding late 19th-century wood-frame lighthouse complex in the Victorian Stick style. It is one of only three surviving wood-frame Victorian lighthouses in California and the only survivor of the pure, simplified Stick style.","narrative":"Set on a hillside ridge near the entrance to San Luis Obispo Harbor, this light station was completed on June 30, 1890, to serve the busy port then called Port Harford. No lighthouse stood on the south-central coast across the 94 miles between Point Arguello and Piedras Blancas, and the 1888 sinking of the steamer Queen of the Pacific strengthened the case for a light. The complex includes a 40-foot square tower attached to a two-story wood-frame keeper's residence, a 1892 fog-signal building, a brick oil house, a privy, cisterns and a catch basin. Two 1961 duplexes and a heavily remodeled carpenter's shop do not contribute. Its Victorian Stick-style design is notable: of seven similar wood-frame lighthouses built in California between 1874 and 1892, only three survive, and this is the only one in the pure, simplified Stick style. Matching brackets on the fog-signal building and oil house unify the group visually.","period_of_significance":"1890-1940 (amended by the Keeper from 1890-1949)","architect_builder":"U.S. Lighthouse Board, 12th District","architectural_style":"Stick/Eastlake; Other: Lighthouse (wood-frame Victorian \"stick\" style)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The tower/keeper's residence is described as structurally very good but presently unoccupied. The original 4th Order Fresnel lens has been moved to the San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum. The station continues to play a role in maritime navigation.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.247941-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/91001093.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001093/54bbc74b91-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001093/54bbc74b91-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Voyacantar","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Port_San_Luis_LIghthouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Voyacantar</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Port_San_Luis_LIghthouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857788","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_San_Luis_Lighthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7208163"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-luis-obispo-county/san-luis-obispo-light-station-91001093/"}