June - Palace fo Fine Arts, San Francisco - The Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915 was an event dedicated to progress, the celebration of the completion of the Panama Canal, and the rebuilding of San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake. The Palace was designed by Berkeley architect Bernard Maybeck. After the exposition all of the exhibits where torn down with the exception of the Place of Fine Arts. It soon fell into disrepair and by the late 1950's it was scheduled to be torn down. A group of citizens saved the structure from destruction and on July 20, 1964, a contract was awarded for the reconstruction and restoration. Workers carefully removed original design elements from which molds were made. Some of those elements ended up a Cal Poly San Louis Obispo school of Architecture, I remember sketching them as a student. The rotunda, colonnade and except the steel farmwork of the gallery were torn down and replaced with concrete castings of the original work. In September, 1967, work was completed of a reduced version of Maybeck’s original design. Restorations continue to this day with the grounds and gardens just finished.

June - Palace fo Fine Arts, San Francisco - The Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915 was an event dedicated to progress, the celebration of the completion of the Panama Canal, and the rebuilding of San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake. The Palace was designed by Berkeley architect Bernard Maybeck. After the exposition all of the exhibits where torn down with the exception of the Place of Fine Arts. It soon fell into disrepair and by the late 1950's it was scheduled to be torn down. A group of citizens saved the structure from destruction and on July 20, 1964, a contract was awarded for the reconstruction and restoration. Workers carefully removed original design elements from which molds were made. Some of those elements ended up a Cal Poly San Louis Obispo school of Architecture, I remember sketching them as a student. The rotunda, colonnade and except the steel farmwork of the gallery were torn down and replaced with concrete castings of the original work. In September, 1967, work was completed of a reduced version of Maybeck’s original design. Restorations continue to this day with the grounds and gardens just finished.