History Series: Golden Gate Bridge

History of the Golden Gate Bridge

89 Years Old Today

Golden Gate Bridge, and alternate paint job

This week, we celebrate the 89th anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge. On May 27, 1937, the bridge opened to traffic after more than five years of construction. I remember asking my father when I was young:

“Why isn’t the Golden Gate Bridge golden?”

He didn’t have an answer apart from his observation that it was expensive to paint.

Color of the Golden Gate Bridge

He didn’t know that the steel for the bridge, which came from Bethlehem Steel foundries in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, originally came coated with a red lead primer. Color studies by consulting architect Irving Morrow led to what’s now known as Golden Gate Bridge International Orange, a unique “red terra cotta” version of the International Orange standard.

A worker atop the Golden Gate Bridge span applies a fresh coat of paint in 1956. The bridge is named for the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. (Photograph by David Boyer). Image: National Geographic

But there were other competitors, as pictured at the top. The U.S. Navy had wanted black with yellow stripes. “Warm Grey” was a distant second choice. If you like the color, you can obtain it from Sherwin-Williams, the supplier of…