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Photo, Print, Drawing Anacapa Island Light Station, Upper Derrick Landing, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA Channel Islands National Park

[ Data Pages from Survey HABS CA-2335-C  ]

More Resources

[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS CA-2335-C  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Anacapa Island Light Station, Upper Derrick Landing, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA

Other Title

  • Channel Islands National Park

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • U.S. Bureau of Lighthouses
  • U.S. Coast Guard
  • Carpenter Brothers
  • U.S. Department of the Navy
  • U.S. National Park Service (NPS), sponsor
  • ASM Affiliates, Inc., contractor
  • Davis, Shannon, historian
  • Novell, Marilyn, historian
  • Dewey, William B., photographer
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  maritime
  • -  navigation
  • -  light stations
  • -  landings (marine structures)
  • -  derricks
  • -  California--Ventura County--Ventura

Latitude / Longitude

  • 34.016653,-119.362388

Notes

  • -  Significance: The Anacapa Island Light Station is significant for the role it played in maritime transportation in California before 1940 and the aids that made navigation possible. It contains an intact, functioning lighthouse tower, fog signal building, and support buildings and structures, including the derrick and landings. With an increase in shipwrecks and a boom in commercial fishing and international trade in the area, a permanent light station was placed in operation in 1932 to mark the strategic east entrance of the Santa Barbara Channel. This was the last light station complex completed in California. Many of the first lighthouses in California were constructed of imported brick in the Cape Cod style typical of those constructed on the East Coast of the U.S. Over time, these designs were adapted to the unique climatic, topographical, and geographical conditions of the Pacific Coast. The "California" lighthouse towers built at higher elevations, of which the Anacapa Island lighthouse is an example, are relatively squat and have powerful lenses, so that the light can be seen for long distances under the higher West Coast fog. The light station was constructed in the regionally popular Spanish Colonial Revival style, which was especially prevalent in Southern California in the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the buildings in the light station complex, even the utilitarian buildings, were built at the same time in this same style. Only one other light station in California -the Point Vicente Light Station on the Palos Verdes Peninsula -was constructed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The landing, comprising the Lower Landing and the Upper Derrick Landing, is one of the few landing sites remaining at a California light station. Landings were frequently elements of remote light stations where the road network prevented vehicle access. As those stations gradually became connected to the outside world by better roads, the need for landings diminished. Most fell into disrepair and were eventually washed away in winter storms. The landing at Anacapa Island has been maintained and continues to be used, however, because access to the station is by water only, and the derrick system provides the only access to the light station itself. The stairway was constructed at the same time and provided pedestrian access from the landing to the station buildings. The Upper Derrick Landing supports the Upper Derrick, which was used to lift supplies up the 90' cliff to the bluff from the lower landing.
  • -  Survey number: HABS CA-2335-C
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1931 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1966 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1975 Subsequent Work
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 91001101

Medium

  • Photo(s): 6
  • Data Page(s): 19
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 1

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS CA-2335-C

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • ca4487

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

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For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS CA-2335-C
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, U.S. Bureau Of Lighthouses, U.S. Coast Guard, Carpenter Brothers, U.S. Department Of The Navy, Sponsor U.S. National Park Service, Inc Asm Affiliates, Shannon Davis, and Marilyn Novell, Dewey, William B, photographer. Anacapa Island Light Station, Upper Derrick Landing, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA. Ventura County Ventura California, 1933. translateds by Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/ca4487/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., U.S. Bureau Of Lighthouses, U.S. Coast Guard, Carpenter Brothers, U.S. Department Of The Navy, U.S. National Park Service, S. [...] Novell, M., Dewey, W. B., photographer. (1933) Anacapa Island Light Station, Upper Derrick Landing, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA. Ventura County Ventura California, 1933. McPartland, M., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/ca4487/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographer by Dewey, William B. Anacapa Island Light Station, Upper Derrick Landing, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA. trans by Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/ca4487/>.