1915 Chevalier Map of San Francisco, California

This is the 1912 'Chevalier' map of San Francisco, one of the most beautiful early 20th century maps of the city. This remarkable chromolithographic topographical and pictorial map of San Francisco was issued by August Chevalier, a French-born American lithographer living and working in the city. Named 'The Chevalier' after its author, the map covers the city from the Golden Gate Park to Colma, and from the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco Bay. Hunter's Point and Point Lobos, the eastern and western extremities of the peninsula respectively, break through the printed borders into the margins of the map (unusually generous, in the case of this example of the map). The city's grid structure is overlaid on a topographical map much as the real-life San Francisco street grid is overlaid on the peninsula's impressively hilly terrain, producing the city's unique topography of steep streets and sharp sudden inclines. Important buildings are shown pictorially. Overprinting in red identifies proposed tunnels and trolley lines. Proposed improvements and landfills are ghosted in at the eastern side of the city surrounding Hunter's Point. The map is accompanied by a detailed, 96-page guide with art-nouveau covers. Of the variants of Chevalier's map, this is one of the most desirable for its association with the Panama-0Pacific Exposition and bright color.

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco between February 20 and December 4, 1915. Ostensibly, the fair was intended to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was also an opportunity for San Francisco to showcase its recovery from the 1906 earthquake. The fair was constructed on a 635-acre site (shown here in detail) along the northern shore now known as the Marina District. Of course, at this time The Golden Gate and Oakland Bay Bridges have yet to be built.

Publication History and Census

This map was copyrighted in 1912 but issued in anticipation of the 1915 Exposition. The original map upon which it was based was a larger format wall map, also called the 'Chevalier,' published in 1903. The map was subsequently reduced to the present form and reissued in several editions. OCLC lists only eight examples in institutional collections.