{"nrhp_refnum":"91001097","name":"Point Sur Light Station","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Morro Rock on Point Sur, 0.5 mi. W of CA 1","address_restricted":false,"city":"Big Sur","county":"Monterey County","state":"CA","lat":36.30600485350007,"lon":-121.90080436040688,"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 historic lighthouse station district atop Morro Rock on Point Sur, about six miles south of Big Sur in Monterey County, California. The complex was begun in 1889 and includes the light tower, dwellings, barn, shop, oil house and cistern.","why_significant":"The station is significant under Criteria A and C. It is tied to California's reliance on maritime transportation and navigation aids. It also keeps nearly all its original buildings, and three of them are sandstone buildings in Richardsonian Romanesque style, built from stone quarried on the site.","narrative":"Perched on Morro Rock, a steep island-like landform beside the mainland beach south of Big Sur, this light station was built in 1889 to guide ships along the Central California coast. Before it opened, no lighthouse stood along 60 miles between Piedras Blancas and Monterey, and wrecks such as the SS Los Angeles in 1873 and the Ventura in 1875 had shown the need. Builders blasted building sites from the rock, quarried sandstone on the spot and hauled supplies up by incline railway. The complex includes a 42-foot stone light tower with attached fog-signal room, keeper's residence, assistant keeper's triplex, barn, blacksmith and carpenter's shop, oil house and cistern. Its Richardsonian Romanesque stonework is unusual among California light stations. Only the landing and boat house are gone, which makes it one of the most intact light stations on the West Coast. It was recognized for its maritime history and its architecture, with a significance period of 1889 to 1940.","period_of_significance":"1889-1940","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Romanesque; Renaissance (Richardsonian Romanesque lighthouse and stone buildings, with some Gothic features in the assistant keeper's dwelling)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Current function listed as vacant; the assistant keeper's dwelling is unoccupied and the keeper's residence has boarded openings. The lighthouse is in excellent repair, though its 1st order Fresnel lens was removed in 1979. The property was transferred to the State of California for park use.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.62561-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/91001097.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001097/c97633cf3c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001097/c97633cf3c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Frank Schulenburg","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Point_Sur_Light_Station_%E2%80%93_lantern_room_from_above.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Frank Schulenburg</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:Point_Sur_Light_Station_%E2%80%93_lantern_room_from_above.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857682","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Sur_Lighthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7208173"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/monterey-county/point-sur-light-station-91001097/"}