San Francisco’s Sutro Baths building was destroyed by fire caused by arson on June 26th, 1966.
The landmark structure, opened by Adolf Sutro in 1896, stood below the Cliff House and housed indoor bathing pools, with an ice rink and penny arcade added later. It struggled financially because of high operating costs, and was sold in a deteriorated condition in 1964 to property developers with plans to build an apartment complex on the site.
At the time of the fire, the structure was undergoing demolition, but the proposed redevelopment of the site never occurred. Traces of the concrete swimming pool walls remain today and the site is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, managed by the United States National Park Service.
