Break bread in the shadow of a Beaux Arts templ
They called it an engineering marvel, and it was, even by today’s stan The aqueduct project to bring fresh water 160 miles — from the Si Nevada’s Hetch Hetchy Valley to the Bay Area — took 24 years to bui cost $102 million and the lives of dozens of construction workers. On Oct. 28, 1934, crowds from San Francisco gathered on the Pen see and hear the first bursts of mountain water. “With vivid memori fire that had raged unchecked after the Great Earthquake of 1906, t rejoiced in its new secure, plentiful supply of high-quality drinking the S.F. Water Co. website says of the public response. Originally a wooden temple marked the spot where the water flowed into Crystal Reservoir. A few years later, it was replaced by a stone temple nearby, designed in th Beaux Arts style, that featured Greco-Roman architectural elements from centuries Corinthian columns. Landscaped grounds. A reflecting pool. It’s a vision straight out Maxfield Parrish painting — and a romantic spot for picnics or contemplation.
Across the bay, there’s a similar monument, the Sunol Water Temple, built in 1910 a striking Beaux Arts design with Corinthian columns.
Ironically, “temple” was a word naturalist John Muir used during his years-long b against the damming of Hetch Hetchy, a sister valley to Yosemite. He called it “a gra landscape garden, one of nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples.” The controversy continues to this day — should Hetch Hetchy be returned to its natural — making Pulgas a perfect spot for a “what if” discussion among you conservationis history buffs while you picnic.