Palace of Fine Arts
Historic site · Marina District, California
A domed rotunda and a curved colonnade set around a lagoon, built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It is San Francisco Landmark No. 88, designated in 1977, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 5 December 2005, reference number 04000659. The architects of record are William Gladstone Merchant and Bernard Maybeck. Both registers give the address as 3301 Lyon Street; Rec & Park files the grounds as property 111. No source states opening hours, so none are given here.
History
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened on 20 February 1915 and closed on 4 December 1915, covering 636 acres and recording 18,876,438 visitors. The colonnade and rotunda were framed in wood and then covered with staff, a mixture of plaster and burlap-type fiber; between 1964 and 1974 they were rebuilt in permanent, lightweight, poured-in-place concrete, and steel I-beams were hoisted into place for the dome of the rotunda. The former exhibit hall became home to the Exploratorium in 1969; the museum closed there in January 2013 before moving to the Embarcadero. On 6 October 1976 the Palace of Fine Arts hosted the second presidential debate between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
Visit
3301 Lyon Street, San Francisco, CA
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