Geneva car barn to become arts and cultural center someday

The Geneva car barn, an official city historic landmark, may someday be an arts and cultural center. The Geneva car barn, an official city historic landmark, may someday be an arts and cultural center. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Geneva car barn to become arts and cultural center someday 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

You won't find the windswept intersection of San Jose and Geneva avenues in many guidebooks to the fabled city of San Francisco. It is on the southern edge of the city, out where the Excelsior and the Ingleside districts run together with a touch of fog and a hint of Daly City.

Trendy restaurants and undiscovered civic treasures are hard to find in this neck of the woods. It's a hardworking part of San Francisco, a bit gritty, more than a bit neglected.

Transportation hub

But there is more to this corner than it seems. San Jose and Geneva is one of the city's transportation hubs. The Balboa Park BART Station is on one edge of the intersection, and three Muni Metro rail lines end up there as well, along with a fistful of Muni bus lines. Interstate 280 is half a block away, and City College is just up the hill.

But, as Gertrude Stein said about another part of the Bay Area, there's no there there. San Jose and Geneva is "a no-man's land. It's not anywhere," says Alex Mullaney, publisher of the Ingleside Light, the neighborhood newspaper.

What the area needs, Mullaney and others say, is a neighborhood centerpiece, a building that can be a combination community and education center with everything from a cafe to a small theater.

What they have in mind is the rebirth of the old Geneva car barn and powerhouse, a handsome old, red brick building that looms over the intersection of Geneva and San Jose like a haunted mansion.

The car barn is 113 years old and looks it; the building has been empty since it was damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake nearly 25 years ago.

It has a graceful turret with curved windows like a Queen Anne Victorian; the architects were the Reid Brothers, who also produced the Fairmont Hotel and the Cliff House. It was built as the offices of the now-vanished San Francisco and San Mateo Electric Railway and more recently served as headquarters for the Municipal Railway's streetcar operations. The building is an official city historic landmark.

"It has tremendous bones," said Tim Wirth, executive director of a nonprofit organization called the Friends of the Geneva Car Barn and Powerhouse. He thinks it could be "an anchor to an evolving neighborhood."

The car barn's supporters see it as a center that would serve young people.

When it's refurbished

They have lined up partners who say they'd fill a refurbished car barn with classrooms, exhibit spaces, a small theater and places to learn photography, cooking, writing and the arts - "a new arts and cultural center," Wirth said.

The car barn's friends have been working on the project for 10 years and more. They helped save the place from the wrecking ball back when Willie Brown was mayor, and they helped engineer a transfer of title from the Municipal Railway to the city's Recreation and Park Department.

They've lined up political support, and plans and architectural drawings. And now, the hard part: money.

The building needs a significant seismic upgrade and major renovations. The interior is full of potential and years of dust and debris. The rumble of Muni trains running on San Jose Avenue fills the empty rooms like the ghosts of an electric railway past.

The estimates to make the dream of a community center come true run to just over $21 million, "a significant figure," as Wirth freely admits.

$11 million tax credits

But, he said, the project is eligible for important historic state and federal tax credits. He said the tax credits could provide up to $11 million or so, and there may be some city funds available. San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos has introduced legislation to get the project rolling.

"The pieces are there," Wirth said. "I am optimistic we will be able to do this. The time is now."

But civic projects are like streetcars. They might show up eventually, but usually there is a very long wait.