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Historic SFFD Fire Station at Mission Rock

A red brick SFFD fire station at Mission Rock stands out against the glass towers going up around it on the waterfront.

Historic red brick SFFD fire station at Mission Rock surrounded by modern glass buildings

This red brick SFFD fire station sits at Mission Rock, right in the middle of the glass-and-steel development going up along the China Basin waterfront. The contrast is hard to miss — an older, low-slung brick building with the classic arched engine bay doors, boxed in by new residential towers on nearly every side.

Mission Rock has been rebuilding fast, with new apartments, retail, and open space replacing what used to be parking lots and industrial land near Oracle Park and Chase Center. The fire station is one of the few structures in the area that predates all of it, and it hasn’t been touched.

Whether it stays standing once the rest of the development finishes is an open question. For now, it’s a small piece of the old waterfront still doing its job.