Cresent City Lighthouse
Also known as: Battery Point Lighthouse
Why it's listed
Battery Point Lighthouse, also called Crescent City Lighthouse, sits on a small rocky island off Crescent City, California, reachable on foot at low tide. Built of granite in 1856 to Light House Service specifications, it is a story-and-a-half, four-room dwelling with a 77-foot tower rising through its center and a wooden lean-to kitchen at the rear. Later additions include water tanks from 1904, an oil house from 1907 and a boat house. The light guided ships along the Pacific Coast for more than a century and marked the harbor entrance during the 1850s gold rush traffic to Southern Oregon. It was the 11th lighthouse on the West Coast and is the oldest on California's north coast. The design shows how an eastern building type spread to California in the early years of American settlement. The county took over the property in 1969, and the historical society now runs it as a museum, with the beacon active again since 1982.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues it is a notable surviving example of the earliest lighthouse design used on the West Coast, a Cape Cod dwelling with a tower through the center. It was the 11th West Coast lighthouse and is the oldest on California's north coast. It served as a navigational aid for over 100 years and marked the harbor entrance that was a point of entry to the Southern Oregon gold fields.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 83001177, listed September 15, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | A St., Battery Point Island, Crescent City |
|---|---|
| County | Del Norte County |
| Listed | September 15, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83001177 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1800-1899 |
| Architect / builder | United States Lighthouse Service |
| Architectural style | Cape Cod dwelling with central tower (early West Coast lighthouse design) |
| Areas of significance | Exploration/Settlement, Architecture, Communications, Maritime History |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied and in good repair; maintained by Del Norte County and the Del Norte County Historical Society as a museum, and the light was reactivated in 1982 as a private aid to navigation. |
| Acreage | 0.7 |
| Coordinates | 41.74403, -124.20309 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 83001177.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q4869878
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.