Historic district · Point Molate

Photographs of Winehaven

Period prints and later photographs of the cellars, cottages, rail, and shoreline. Click any image to view it larger. Credits appear under each picture. More on the hillside cottages: The winemakers’ cottages.

From the winery years

Historic postcard of Winehaven wine vaults on the bay, labeled capacity ten million gallons — Wine vaults from the water, about 1915–1920. Capacity advertised as ten million gallons. Edward Mitchell postcard; Bancroft Library.

1908 almanac drawing of the California Wine Association plant framed in grapevines — 1908 almanac plate: “The Mammoth Plant of the California Wine Association.” Public domain.

HABS photograph of Building 1 turret, crenellations, and long brick facade — Building 1 turret and crenellated parapet. Historic American Buildings Survey, 1996. Public domain.

The cellars from the bay

Red-brick Winehaven cellars with corner turrets, seen across calm water — Building 1 from the water, 2020. Photo by Dreamyshade. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Winehaven complex and smokestack from the northwest across the water — From the northwest, 2008. Photo by Sanfranman59. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Winehaven brick buildings above a small cove, with wildflowers in the foreground — Across the cove. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Castle-like brick winery and chimney with forested hill and yellow hillside flowers — Cellars, stack, and hillside. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Long brick bay facade with turrets and crenellations above a rocky shore — Bay façade. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Brick cellars, smokestack, and a row of white cottages on the hill above the bay — Plant and village in one view. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Wide shoreline view of cottages, brick winery, and San Pablo Bay — Shoreline of the historic district. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Cottages and brick cellars along the Point Molate shore — Cottages and cellars. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Warm afternoon light on crenellated brick buildings above the rocky shore — Afternoon light on the vaults. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Grounds, rail, and cottages

Brick workshop labeled BLDG 17 with crenellated parapet and tall smokestack behind — Building 17, workshop, with the powerhouse stack. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Brick winery buildings and smokestack behind a No Public Access fence — The fenced plant. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Brick tower, concrete cellar, and rusted railroad tracks in the foreground — Cellars and remaining rail. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Weathered railroad crossing sign, rusted tracks, and the brick winery beyond — Belt-line remnant. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Corrugated-metal fire station with two garage bays and a Fire Department sign — Fire station (Building 63). Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Corrugated metal Building 123 with U.S. Government Property no trespassing sign — Navy-period Building 123. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Curving row of matching two-story cottages on a hillside behind a security fence — Winery cottages, later Navy housing. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Two-story cottages stepping down a hillside above a fenced road — Cottage row. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Brick turret and crenellations with a long pier extending into the bay — Turret and the later Navy pier. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Brick turret and loading dock with a painted Air Raid Shelter sign — Navy stencil on winery brick. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Covered loading dock, palm trees, railroad tracks, and Fallout Shelter sign — East loading dock, Building 1. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Red-brick crenellated winery seen from above, with palms and a chain-link fence — Building 1 from the road. Photo by Almonroth, 2012.

Documented in 1996: the Historic American Buildings Survey

Before the Navy left Point Molate, the National Park Service’s Historic American Buildings Survey photographed Winehaven in January and February 1996. The large-format negatives are now at the Library of Congress. They record the district nearly thirty years before the 2025 park purchase.

Black-and-white view of the winery buildings behind modern Navy tanks, with hills beyond — The two great cellars (Buildings 1 and 6) with Navy fuel tanks in the foreground. HABS CA-2658-7 (CAL,7-RICH,2-7).

Building 1 with a round corner turret and crenellated brick parapet against the sky — Building 1 architectural detail: turret and parapet. HABS CA-2658-A-9.

Long brick wall of Building 1 beside railroad tracks — The long bay-side wall of Building 1 beside the old rail line. HABS CA-2658-A-3.

Interior of a large storage cellar with rows of square columns and a flat concrete ceiling — Inside Building 1’s first floor. HABS CA-2658-A-13.

The reinforced-concrete Building 6 seen across an open yard — Building 6, the reinforced-concrete cellar built first, in 1907. HABS CA-2658-B-4.

Brick powerhouse with a tall smokestack behind trees — The powerhouse (Building 13) and smokestack. HABS CA-2658-D-1.

The Winemaster’s House with a dormer, a brick chimney and large multi-pane windows across the enclosed porch — The Winemaster’s House on the hill, later the Navy commanding officer’s residence. HABS CA-2658-J-1. The same building in 2024.

A small white worker cottage with a gabled porch roof on a slope — A two-bedroom worker cottage (Building 41). HABS CA-2658-G-2.

A curving road lined with small gabled houses, with the bay in the distance — Cottages along Gray’s Circle. HABS CA-2658-3.

A gabled firehouse with three garage doors and painted pavement markings — The firehouse (Building 63). HABS CA-2658-F-1.

About these images

Historic plates are in the public domain or used under the licenses noted. Contemporary photographs by Almonroth (2012) are used under CC BY-SA 3.0. The 2008 northwest view is by Sanfranman59, CC BY-SA 3.0. The 2020 water view is by Dreamyshade, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 1996 Historic American Buildings Survey photographs are by Robert Hicks and are held by the Library of Congress, which reports no known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; we cropped off the film border and label stamp and resized them for the web. Other files were obtained via Wikimedia Commons.

If you have photographs of Winehaven — especially family pictures from the winery or Navy years — the Trust would like to hear from you through Facebook.