Balboa High School, named for Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the Spanish explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean, is a fine example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, made popular by the 1915 Panama-California Exhibition in San Diego. The campus contains three buildings, designed by prominent San Francisco architects: John Reid Jr., Hyman and Appelton Associates, and Bakewell and Weihe Associates.

Balboa High School represents the golden age of school construction in San Francisco. Between 1920 and 1930, 49 new school buildings were added to the School District. Balboa represented advanced school design emerging in California during this period which reflected the special topography and climate of the area and emphasized indoor-outdoor relationships where pupils could enjoy fresh air, recreation and sunshine in an urban setting.

Among the graduates are Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. [sic]

Adapted from City Planning Commission Resolution 13763 dated October 6, 1994.

The landmark resolution incorrectly states that Garcia graduated from Balboa High School.

According to Wikipedia and other sources, Garcia attended tenth grade at Balboa High School in 1958. In 1959, Garcia's mother moved the family to Cazadero, a small town in Sonoma County, ninety miles north of San Francisco.