Would a museum built by a powerful local citizen in the heart of the San Francisco Presidio for his private art collection be a gift to the public? Or would it exact a price in the form of unacceptable damage to a precious historical heritage site? That’s being hotly argued right now and the stakes are high.

The Presidio Trust, which manages most of the Presidio, has proposed to permit the erection of two large-scale new buildings--a 125-room hotel and a 100,000-square-foot museum--overlooking the parade ground on the Main Post, the ceremonial and administrative center of what was the oldest military base on the West Coast and is now a national park. The museum would be built by Don Fisher, the founder of the San Francisco-based Gap clothing chain, to house the contemporary art collection he owns with his wife, Doris.

These plans have outraged historians, preservation and park officials, and citizens who toiled together for two years to craft a vision for the future of this great urban park in keeping with its historic significance. Objections to the projects and irregularities in the process by which they have advanced have come from State Historic Preservation Officer Milford Wayne Donaldson, the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board, and the National Parks Conservation Association, among others. Brian O’Neill, Superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), has warned that the Presidio could lose its designation as a National Historic Landmark District, the highest category of protection for historical sites.

At O’Neill’s request, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has asked the National Park Service to evaluate all the development proposals for the Main Post. That evaluation, due for completion in October, will determine whether the integrity of the Presidio’s National Historic Landmark District status will remain intact.

The Presidio is part of the GGNRA, but 80 percent of its 1,491 acres--all except the shoreline on both sides of the Golden Gate--are managed by the Presidio Trust, a government corporation created by Congress in 1996, with a seven-member board of directors, six appointed by the President, one by the Secretary of the Interior. Don Fisher is a former board member.

Unlike any other national park, the Presidio is required to become self-sustaining by 2012. The Trust has already met that requirement by leasing many of the park’s 500 buildings (400 designated as historic), as well as recreational facilities and land to private and public entities.

Watchful historians and others involved with the Presidio’s future give the Trust high marks for restoration work on individual buildings. Much more money will be required to realize the vision in the management plan adopted in 2002 after wide public discussion. How it should be raised is at issue in the current controversy. A forest, meadow, or Victorian house can also be seen as valuable real estate, and creeping privatization is a concern.

On June 9, 2008, the Trust published a draft “Main Post Update to the Presidio Trust Management Plan,” proposing the two new buildings, as well as other changes and management plan revisions to make them possible. These were moving forward with unusual speed, although at earlier scoping sessions, required to solicit public comment, many participants objected, instead favoring a smaller historical and education center related to the place and its natural and historical features.

“This is a conflict between private interests and the weight of the preservation movement,” commented retired Army colonel Whitney Hall, who was commander of the Presidio from 1979 to 1982 and is now vice president of the Presidio Historical Association. “If we allow very important persons to override the national historic preservation program, we will kill both the Presidio and the national park.”