Presidio Main Parade Lawn and Montgomery Street Barracks: The Martial Core

Why is it significant?

Walk across the vast, open green expanse of the Main Parade Lawn, the seven-acre ceremonial heart of the Presidio's historic Main Post.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Walk across the vast, open green expanse of the Main Parade Lawn, the seven-acre ceremonial heart of the Presidio's historic Main Post. For well over a century, this grand parade ground echoed with the sharp cadence of marching boots, bugle calls, and artillery salutes as thousands of American soldiers drilled, assembled for inspection, and prepared for deployment to the Philippines, World War I, and World War II. Framing the western edge stands a magnificent row of five identical two-story red-brick barracks erected between 1895 and 1897 along Montgomery Street.

Look at the handsome symmetrical brick facades, columned double-decker porches, and slate gabled roofs of the Montgomery Street barracks. Designed during the Spanish-American War era to modernize soldier living quarters, these barracks accommodated up to one hundred men per building. In 2009, one of these historic barracks was transformed into the world-class Walt Disney Family Museum, celebrating the animation pioneer's life and artistry while preserving the building's authentic historic exterior.

In the 1970s, the army paved over this historic lawn to create a giant seven-acre asphalt parking lot for military vehicles. In 2011, the Presidio Trust demolished the asphalt and restored the lush natural grass, reconnecting the parade ground with the bay and creating a democratic gathering space for community picnics, outdoor cinema, and cultural festivals. Every surrounding viewpoint, weathered stone wall, and historic pathway tells an essential chapter of California's transformation from a remote frontier outpost into a world-renowned Pacific metropolis. Every surrounding viewpoint, weathered stone wall, and historic pathway tells an essential chapter of California's transformation from a remote frontier outpost into a world-renowned Pacific metropolis. Every surrounding viewpoint, weathered stone wall, and historic pathway tells an essential chapter of California's transformation from a remote frontier outpost into a world-renowned Pacific metropolis.

If you look northeast toward the bay, you can see the modern Presidio Tunnel Tops park, built directly atop highway tunnels to reconnect the historic post with the waterfront.

Walk west along Lincoln Boulevard, following the gentle hillside path to the San Francisco National Cemetery Overlook.