Starfleet Headquarters Starfleet Headquarters was the administrative center of Starfleet Command located in California , on Earth . Sharing grounds with Starfleet Academy , it encompassed territory adjacent to the city of San Francisco , on either side of the Golden Gate passage into San Francisco Bay . History . The sprawling complex was originally built as the headquarters of the United Earth Starfleet in the early 22nd century , on what was previously a portion of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County , overlooking Horseshoe Bay . After the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161 , it continued to serve as the command center of the Federation Starfleet . By 2255 , the headquarters had expanded to the Presidio , a former military post on the southern side of the Golden Gate , where it included an air tram station . Its address at 24 - 593 Federation Drive , San Francisco , CA was mentioned in the Treaty of Armens . ( ; ; ) Starfleet Headquarters also had remote facilities including one in Paris , France in the 24th century . ( ) " In the alternate reality , Starfleet Headquarters was located directly south of the Golden Gate Bridge , in an area of the city between the Golden Gate Park and the Presidio . In 2259 , a meeting in the Daystrom Conference Room at Starfleet Headquarters discussing a bomb ing at the Kelvin Memorial Archive in London was attacked by the perpetrator himself , Commander John Harrison , who sought to assassinate Admiral . Harrison was forced to escape before he accomplished his goal , but he managed to fatally wound Admiral . The following morning , Marcus sent Captain to find Harrison on Qo ' noS and avenge the victims of the attack . Following the Battle of Luna the next day , " Harrison " directed the crippled to crash into San Francisco in a failed attempt to destroy Starfleet Headquarters . " ( ) In 2293 , the senior crew of the attended a meeting in a briefing room at Starfleet Headquarters regarding imminent peace talks with the Klingon s . ( ) In 2367 , the encountered a spaceborn entity . Commander Riker ordered readings to be compiled for Starfleet Headquarters . ( ) In 2369 , Odo tried to contact Starfleet Headquarters to tell them about the situation on Deep Space 9 . However , Major Kira Nerys had ordered all subspace communication s to the Federation be blocked . ( ) In 2371 , Benjamin Sisko was debriefed on the Dominion situation in Starfleet Headquarters for several weeks . Sisko also enjoyed visiting it , hoping to be an admiral based there one day . ( ) " In 2372 of an alternate timeline , Starfleet Headquarters featured a main complex with at least six levels . Harry Kim had an office at this complex . " ( ) Admiral Charlie Whatley contacted Captain Benjamin Sisko on Deep Space 9 from Starfleet Headquarters in 2373 . ( ) Rear Admiral , the Judge Advocate General , had an office at Starfleet Headquarters . He told Richard Bashir to report there later in 2373 , when he arrived on Earth from Deep Space 9 . ( ) Holographic portraits of notable Starfleet officers were placed within Headquarters , including one of Captain Hikaru Sulu . ( ) In 2374 , an Emergency Medical Hologram known as The Doctor spoke directly to Starfleet Headquarters after securing the from Romulan forces . Informing them that was stranded in the Delta Quadrant , Starfleet Headquarters returned The Doctor to " Voyager " with a message for its crew : " " You are no longer alone " . " ( ) Logistical Support was an office at Starfleet Headquarters that specialized in technology support . The office was located in Headquarters ' main complex , through the second door on the right . The office was a secure area , and devices such as holo - imager s were not allowed . A recreation version of Starfleet Headquarters , fabricated by Species 8472 , contained Logistical Support and was encountered by Commander Chakotay in 2375 . ( ) In late 2375 , during the Dominion War , Starfleet Headquarters was attacked by the Breen . Buildings were badly damaged , including the historic Golden Gate Bridge , and many people were killed . ( ) By 2376 , the city had been restored to its original appearance . ( ) Apocrypha . The " Star Fleet Technical Manual " supposedly consisting of material accidentally dumped at Omaha Air Force Base by the " Enterprise " described , and depicted , Headquarters not as being inside a building on any one planet , but instead as being located inside a gigantic space station , built specifically for the purpose , that was located not on any one Federation planet , but instead outside all of them , and capable of serving as a spacedock for up to and including eighteen ships at any one time . Appendices . Background information . The Starfleet Headquarters grounds were filmed at the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys , California , where the Starfleet Academy scenes were also filmed . Matte painting s were typically added to enlarge the overall scenes . According to Cinefex ( No . 134 ) , Industrial Light & Magic located Starfleet Headquarters in , a landmark location east of the Presidio . However , a directory for the Headquarters has the headquarters on 2nd street . This is confirmed by a map of the San Francisco Bay seen in Admiral Alexander Marcus ' office that depicts its location in east San Francisco . The Presidio Starfleet Headquarters maquette . While the exterior footage of Presidio Starfleet Headquarters in could have been easily misconstrued as being largely a matte painting , that was only true in a small part . Most of the view was , in actuality , live footage of the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys , California . In post - production , that footage was composited with footage of maquettes which were constructed for background elements as well as foreground elements . Creating the overall look was , in the end , a collaborative effort . The design was inspired by the General Motors Pavilion of the 1964 / 1965 World Fair . Doug Drexler , who had been awed by seeing that building in his childhood , later recalled , " " The General Motor ’ s pavilion was one of the largest buildings at the fair . Approximately 4 , 000 tons of structural steel and 10 , 500 cubic yards of concrete went into its construction . The distinctive canopy that served as the pavilion ' s entrance soared ten stories over a reflecting pool , and was visible for miles . Housed within was the popular Futurama ride , which predicted moon bases and vacation hotels under the sea . It was a huge inspiration to thousands of kids who grew up to be scientists , engineers , and yours truly . Many years later , in the DS9 episode ' Homefront ' , VFX supervisor Gary Hutzel called Mike [ Okuda ] looking for a model of Starfleet Command yesterday . The GM pavilion came instantly to mind . To me , the soaring canopy reminded me of the billowing sail of a ship of the line . I showed it to Mike , and he handed it over to Anthony Fredrickson . Anthony slammed it together using an old levelor blind and spare parts . The train was made out of bird feeders and cassette racks . Considering he had no time , he did a marvy job , but it was not as elegant as I would have liked . Still a kick . " " Anthony Fredrickson , who ended up being responsible for the work of actual constructing the maquettes , recalled that they had " only a couple of days and a budget of zero " . However , he continued , " " Doug Drexler instantly grabbed for some inspiration . Pinned to the wall by his desk he had a souvenir pamphlet from the 1965 World ' s Fair . It showed the General Motors pavilion , which is " the " architectural definition of " Star Trek " . I had the construction guys cut and shape me an appropriate piece of ' wiggle wood ' , a bendable kind of plywood . To me , the building ' s facade looked like a curving venetian blind . It was a simple matter to walk across the lot and liberate a dusty set of blinds from an empty office . The front of the model was lined with the thin metal slate , and the overall effect was like a tall , narrow , drive - in movie screen , hung with the Federation of Planets logo . At the front of the building , we modeled a park crisscrossed with walkways , and used Micro Machine starships to represent sculptures , like the way a military base will mount an old jet outside the entrance . " " " Mike Okuda brought in two freestanding compact disk storage racks he figured would make excellent high - rise office buildings . One of the racks looked to me like a tunnel for a high speed magnetic tram . We used it in the foreground horizontally along the ground . The perfect tram car was discovered in a plastic and aluminum hanging bird feeder . Its streamlined shape fit nicely in the tunnel , and after a little paint and pinstriping it provided the illusion of expansive windows and sliding doors . The models were composited with life footage of the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys , which had already stood in for Starfleet Academy in an episode of . I was told you can just see the in the distance , but I never saw the episode . Did they make the tram car zip through the tunnel like they promised ? I sure hope so . " " ( ) Indeed , the tram Fredrickson referred to was actually constructed , and it was intended by the Art Department as a subtle homage to Gene Roddenberry ' s aborted " Earth II " pilot . Confirming Fredrickson ' s remarks , Michael Okuda stated that the tram and tunnel assembly was based on " a couple of CD holders and a hummingbird feeder bought at a gardening shop . " Likewise , Judy Elkins commented , " " It was just a bunch of metal arches . " " The tunnel look was created in post - production by digitally painting in the reflections and highlights that made the spaces between the arches look like Plexiglas . This was done at Digital Magic by Computer Animator Adam Howard . " " He even animated a blinking light to the ' tube ' , to make it look as if a yellow light went on and off when the tram came through , " " Elkins continued . The Golden Gate Bridge , visible in the background , was not a part of the background matte painting , but an actual photograph that Effects Supervisor Dan Curry took of the bridge . Footage of the two maquette pieces were shot at Image G and all individual elements were composited in post - production at Digital Magic into the final shot , overseen by Visual Effects Supervisor Gary Hutzel . ( " " , p . 302 ) The maquette which constituted the sail backdrop of the main building of Starfleet Headquarters had , in front of it , mounted silver - plated Micro Machines , representing members of the , ( original and refit ) as well as the . The maquette itself , measuring 48x29x13in , was eventually offered up as , part of the " " auction and estimated at US $ 1 , 000 - $ 1 , 500 , being eventually sold on , with a winning bid of US $ 5 , 000 ( $ 6 , 000 including buyer ' s premium ) .