.

The Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

 Architect: Bernard Maybeck

 Architectural Style: Beaux Arts

Decorative Elements: William G. Merchant, a young architect in Maybeck’s office.

 Relief Panels: Bruno L. Zimm. Eight low relief panels around the rotunda symbolizing Greek culture.

 Architectural figures Sculptor: Ulric Ellerhusen.

The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California.

.

.

.

.

Original construction: 1915.
This monumental structure was originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition [PPIE] in order to exhibit works of art presented there. It is one of the few surviving structures from the Exposition, and is the only one still situated on its original site.

The Palace of Fine Arts is an important part of San Francisco’s rich history and a symbol of the spirit that makes San Francisco “the city that knows how.” After the devastation of the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was anxious to show the world that it had risen from the ashes. So in 1910, business and civic leaders gathered to discuss making San Francisco the site of the century’s first great world’s fair — a grand exposition that would honor the completion of the Panama Canal. In just two hours, they raised $4 million — and beat out competitors New Orleans and Washington, D.C., to host the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition.

Since the palace was expected to be dismantled after the exposition, the original rotunda and columns were framed with wood and covered with a pliable mixture of plaster and burlap-type fiber known as “staff”. The crescent -shaped exhibition hall behind the rotunda had concrete walls to protect the artworks that the palace was built to display during the exposition.

Before the PPIE closed, Phoebe Apperson Hearst had already launched a campaign to preserve the Palace. The site managed to escape destruction because of its location on the US Army land.

Over the following decades the Palace, built only to last a year, fell into ruin. Its former fine arts galleries were repurposed for such diverse uses as indoor tennis courts, a World War II Army motorpool, telephone book distribution center and fire department headquarters. By the 1950s, the site had deteriorated dramatically. In 1959, philanthropist Walter Johnson spearheaded an effort to raise preservation funds and donated & 4 million.

Reconstruction: 1964
In 1964, the original Palace was stripped to the foundation. Only the steel structure of the exhibit hall was left standing. The buildings were then reconstructed in permanent, light-weight, poured-in-place concrete, and steel I-beams were hoisted into place for the dome of the rotunda. All the decorations and sculpture were constructed anew. The only changes were the absence of the murals in the dome, two end pylons of the colonnade, and the original ornamentation of the exhibit hall.

Renovation and Restoration: 2009.
By the end of the 20th century, the Palace needed further restoration. The “Light Up the Palace” campaign in the late 1980s funded improvement to exterior lighting for the rotunda and colonnades. In 2003, the Mayback Foundation partnered with the City of San Francisco to raise $ 21 million for significant seismic upgrade, conservation of the dome, colonnade, and rotunda, and improvements to the landscape and lagoon. San Francisco rallied to preserve its palace for the enjoyment of future generations.

 

.

.

DESIGN: It is built around a small artificial lagoon. the Palace of Fine Arts is composed of a wide, 1,100 ft (340 m) pergola around a central rotunda situated by the water. The lagoon was intended to echo those found in classical settings in Europe, where the expanse of water provides a mirror surface to reflect the grand buildings and an undisturbed vista to appreciate them from a distance.

.

.

.

.

The relief panels on the dome are supposed to represent mythological events from Greek culture.  There are eight relief panels around the rotunda.

.

.

Between the relief panels of the dome are guardian warriors ready to do battle to protect the arts.
There are also guardian angels within in the rotunda.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

WEEPING MAIDENS
For me the most interesting feature were the weeping maidens. The weeping figures sit atop the colonnade, at the corner of  large planter boxes.   The plants were supposed to be watered by tears of weeping women.   However, the plants were never added to the boxes, because of shortage of funds. The maidens are weeping because all the art that was to be housed here would soon be leaving. So there it is, the logic of the Weeping Maidens!  The original sculptures were created in 1915 by German American sculptor Ulric Ellerhusen to express the sadness and melancholy of life without art. When the palace was rebuilt in 1969, these sculptures were recreated by Spero Anargyros . Ulric Ellerhusen also made the allegorical figures representing Contemplation, Wonderment and Meditation.

 

.

.

.

.

.

 

.

---

.

Related Links:
Home.. click here..
2015 Vacation: Trip to Sacramento, San Francisco, Carson City & Lake Tahoe.. click here..

My Vacations.. click here..
Vacation: USA.. click here..
Vacation: UK.. click here..
Vacation: India.. click here..
UNESCO World Heritage Site.. click here..

.

---

.