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apollonaut. Built by People Who've Been

Journal / History

History, family & the Presidio

An Army barracks.
A family’s museum.

The story of The Walt Disney Family Museum, from a row of brick barracks in the Presidio to a museum of Walt Disney’s life and work.

The long red-brick barracks of The Walt Disney Family Museum beyond a lawn on the Presidio’s Main Post
The Walt Disney Family Museum on the Main Post of the Presidio, San Francisco.

Barracks on the Main Post

The museum’s main building was built in 1897 as Barracks 104, one of a row of large brick Army barracks on Montgomery Street in the Presidio. Long before the museum moved in, the Army had stripped out its historic interior walls, ceilings and finishes.

The museum’s red-brick building, with its long porch and a banner, on Montgomery Street in the Presidio
The museum’s brick barracks seen across the lawn of the Main Post, with cars parked along the street

A daughter’s idea

The museum was founded by Walt Disney’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller, who chose an interactive museum over a book to tell her father’s story. She settled on the Presidio after learning that some of its old buildings were available to lease.

Opening in 2009

Three historic buildings on the Main Post were retrofitted and expanded, to designs by Page & Turnbull, and the museum opened on 1 October 2009. Its ten permanent galleries follow Walt Disney’s life from his family’s history to his death in December 1966.

The glass-walled rear of the museum between its red-brick buildings

Continue exploring

The museum’s brick barracks seen across the lawn of the Main Post, with cars parked along the streetA daughter’s museumHow the museum came to the Presidio.The Lilly Belle locomotive and cars of the Carolwood Pacific Railroad on display at the museumWhat to see at the museumTen galleries of a life’s work.Plan your visit

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