Most people would agree that buildings have a subliminal effect on our moods, yet few psychologists are ever consulted on building designs. Here we have an example of a building with murals and details produced by a psychologist, Hilaire Hiler. The building, designed by William Mooser Jr. and William Mooser III, was originally a Works Progress Administration project begun in 1936 and launched in early 1939 as the Bathhouse Building at the San Francisco Aquatic Park. Today it's part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
The architects chose forms that were strongly related to contemporary steamship architecture, and added nautical details like porthole windows. Originally intended to house dining and meeting rooms along with the bathhouse, the building was converted into a recreation center for troops during World War II, and was reconfigured as the San Francisco Maritime Museum by the early 1950s. A long promenade allows spectators to view sailing events on the Bay...
The consulting psychologist Hiler was also a color theorist and visual artist. He spent years from the 1920s onward in Paris, painting and playing jazz piano before returning to the States in 1934, and while in Paris formed friendships with writers Ernest Hemingway, Anais Nin, Henry Miller and Sinclair Lewis. His work included paintings reflecting Machine Age themes, but eventually turned toward color abstractions...
Other work reflected organic forms and an increasing interest in the psychological effects of vibrant, juxtaposed colors…
Hiler designed interior murals for the Maritime Museum before the building officially opened in January 1939. These murals present aquatic forms and themes with a fanciful, dreamlike atmosphere.
Hiler believed that color needed to be treated as a problem of psychology rather than one of physics, and noted that humans were better equipped to perceive subtle gradations of cool colors than warm ones. Colors are derived from Hiler's Threshold Theory Color System, and the artist painted them on the ceiling of one room in a circle of 30 careful gradations derived from that system. He named the room with this ceiling the Prismatarium, and both room and ceiling are still intact.
The use of color and nautical imagery extends to mosaics by Sargent Claude Johnson on the second floor terrace overlooking the ocean. Sargent Johnson, an African-American contemporary of Hiler, was also a painter, sculptor and ceramicist...
Johnson's mosaics project forms of aquatic life into large, semi-abstract patterns that create a backdrop for sculptural pieces. The animal sculptures reduce the forms of wild animals to a sleekly simplified, streamlined essence.
Johnson also carved the slate panels which frame and shelter the building's entry...
The Maritime Museum is currently undergoing restoration work, and some of the exhibits have been moved to a temporary location in the Visitors Center located at 499 Jefferson Street, but the original building at 900 Beach Street is still open to the public, and very much worth a look.
Photo Credits:
All photos of Maritime Museum building are by the author except the building entry, which is from the National Park Service, and the closeup of Prismatarium ceiling, from vastari.com.3rd photo from top, of blue painting by Hiler, is from askart.com.
4th photo from top, of Amazon painting by Hiler, is from alchetron.com.
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