Streamline Moderne

Emerging from Art Deco in the 1930s, Streamline Moderne buildings borrow their sleek curves from the drag-reducing forms of trains, boats, planes, and cars. They are relatively rare in San Francisco, but the most prominent examples are the Malloch Building in Telegraph Hill and the Maritime Museum, a former WPA bathhouse built in 1939. Modeled on an ocean liner and complete with porthole windows, the long white Maritime Museum could have been purpose-built to become a shipping museum. From 1940, the Rincon Annex post office in the East Cut is more low-key, but has some nice details, including stone friezes of dolphins.