RON HENGGELER

April 27, 2009
Alamo Square, Murphy Windmill, Palace of Fine Arts, Crissy Fields

The Palace of Fine Arts is the only building remaining from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The Palace of Fine Arts is located at Baker and Beach Streets alongside a lagoon. San Francisco celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal and the city’s revival from the 1906 earthquake by staging the fair in which 29 states and 24 nations participated. At the center was a tower covered with more than 100,000 cut-glass jewels imported from Bohemia. The fair drew more than 18 million visitors in 10 months. The exposition featured the tallest flagpole ever erected: a 299-foot, 52 ton, trimmed Douglas fir. Like other temporary fair buildings, the Palace of Fine Arts was originally constructed of inexpensive wood and plaster. It was so popular however, that San Franciscans couldn’t bear to dismantle it. Designed to look like a Roman ruin, the building deteriorated into a genuine ruin. Restored in 1962 with reinforced concrete, it serves a 1,000seat theatre and also houses the Exploratorium, a hands-on science museum. During World War II, the Palace of Fine Arts was used as a warehouse for Army medical supplies. From SAN FRANCISCO SECRETS by John Rnyder Chronicle Books 1999

detail of the Fulton Street tower

Alamo Square

Reconstruction of the foundation of the 1905 Murphy Windmill

Palace of Fine Arts as seen from the end of Broadway on Pacific Heights

Palace of Fine Arts

Palace of Fine Arts

Palace of Fine Arts

Palace of Fine Arts

Palace of Fine Arts

Lucas Film in the Presidio

Crissy Field

Fort Point

Fort Point

 

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