San Francisco 1915 - Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts was one of the finest buildings constructed for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. It was one of the most important symbols of the fair, situated near its center, at the end of the axis on which were located the Courts of the Four Seasons and of the Universe at the center, and the Court of Abundance, with the Machinery Palace framing the other side.
The Palace was designed by a well known local architect, Bernard Maybeck (b. New York, New York 1882; d. Berkeley, California 1957) who studied architecture at the Paris Ecole des Beaux Arts. Maybeck then moved to San Francisco, joined the firm of A. Page Brown, and established a private practice in 1894. Maybeck practiced in many styles, some of which he developed from local Californian forms. He also believed in originality for solving architectural problems, and he did just that in designing the Palace. The Palace was hailed as the most original design of the exposition. Although he used many elements from Greek and Roman antiquity, Maybeck did not simply follow customary forms, like other architects who tried to emulate classicism. The Palace was meant to represent a decaying Roman ruins. In the words of Maybeck, the building gave a sense of "sadness modified by the feeling that beauty has a soothing influence. (Maybeck, 3)"
The Palace of Fine Arts was built around a small artificial lagoon, as can be seen from the first image, a colored photograph from Colortypes of the Panama Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco 1915 (4 in. x 6 in.). It is composed of a wide, 1100 foot pergola, an arch formed by rows of Corinthian columns framing a wide walkway, around a central ...
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Bibliography
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In 1901 Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) designed the elaborate hall for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held in Saint Louis in 1904. This short-lived structure deserves attention, as it was a main focus of the fair and an important benchmark in its designer's career.
The World’s Fair of 1893 was set to commemorate the 400th year anniversary of Columbus’ voyage to America. When the top leaders in the US heard about the opportunity of hosting the fair, they quickly showed their interest. The main cities that showed interest were New York,...
Despite varied opinions about the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition, an event designed to confirm the friendly relations between France and Britain as described in the Entente Cordiale, there was collective praise for the Court of Honor. The full grandeur of the Court can hardly be felt by an image. As visitors entered from the main gates of Wood Lane, the Court of Honor was their first impression of the fair. The largest in Britain to date, the Exhibition occupied 140 acres of Shepherd's Bush in west London, an area now known as the "White City" due to the white plaster of the fair's structures.
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Burnham is a well-known architect around the world who previously completed work in “Chicago, New York, Washington, San Francisco, Manila, and many other cities” (Pg. 3). He was offered the job to design and build the buildings that would be a part of the World’s Columbian Exposition (Chicago World’s Fair), after Chicago won the bid for the fair in 1890, and eventually took the offer with his assistant, John Root. The construction of the fair began in 1891 and did not completely finish until the fair was already halfway over in the summer of 1893. During those two and a half years, the success and reputatio...
Cothren, M. & Marilyn Stokstad. (2011). Art History, Volume 2, 4th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Learning Solutions.
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(Image taken from Tranchtenberg, Marvin, Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity. Second Edition. Prentice Hall, Inc. New Jersey: 2002.)
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art came about as an idea from Jon Jay in Paris, France in 1866 with the idea of “national institution gallery of art” within the United States. Once this idea was proposed, it was immediately moved forward with his return to the United States. With the help of the Union League Club in NY they began to acquire civic leaders, businessmen, artists, and collectors who aided in the creation of the museum. For over 140 years, the visitors who go here have received everything the mission of the institution states.
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The Rotunda’s dome is 58 feet high with a skylight 20 feet across on top, which has been restored recently into a bright colored stained glass design. The museum had its first grand opening on November 6, 1913 and was called “The Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art. It was formally opened to the public. The museum was joined by other major cultural facilities in the park; the Memorial Coliseum, Sports Arena, Swimming Stadium, California Science Center, California African American Museum and the largest Municipal-Owned Rose Garden in the nation, with a beautiful water fountain in the center. As I walk into the museum onto the first level, there are many different halls surrounding.