December 5, 2017

San Francisco Panama–Pacific International Exposition ~ 1915


  
Yesterday, December 4, was the anniversary of the closing of the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition after an almost year-long run.             
    
The Panama–Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) was a world's fair held in San Francisco, in the United States, between February 20 and December 4 in 1915. Its ostensible purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery from the 1906 earthquake. There was a postcard printed showing new buildings in San Francisco, with earthquake ruins and bear in foreground, and two small images of buildings of the Exposition at bottom.         



The fair was constructed on a 635 acre (2.6 km2) site in San Francisco, along the northern shore, between the Presidio and Fort Mason, now known as the Marina District.  


aeroplane view -1915

          
The centerpiece was the Tower of Jewels, which rose to 435 feet and was covered with over 100,000 cut glass Novagems. The 34 to 2 inch colored "gems" sparkled in sunlight throughout the day and were illuminated by over 50 powerful electrical searchlights at night.

Tower of Jewels_night

At the west end of the central court group was the Palace of Fine Arts which was designed by Bernard Maybeck, who took his inspiration from Roman and Ancient Greek architecture in designing what was essentially a fictional ruin from another time..     


designed by Bernard Maybeck
 
           
          
designed by Bernard Maybeck
         

It was one of ten palaces at the heart of the Exhibition. It is the only surviving structure. Constructed from temporary materials (primarily staff, a combination of plaster and burlap fiber), almost all the fair's various buildings and attractions were pulled down in late 1915. Intended to fall into pieces at the close of the fair (reportedly because the architect believed every great city needed ruins), the only surviving building on the Exposition grounds, Palace of Fine Arts, remained in place, slowly falling into disrepair (although the hall used to display painting and sculpture during the Fair was repurposed as a garage for jeeps during World War II). The Palace, including the colonnade with its signature weeping women and rotunda dome, was completely reconstructed in the 1960s and a seismic retrofit was completed in early 2009. The  Exploratorium, an interactive science museum, occupied the northern 2/3 of the Palace from 1969 to 2013; the city-owned Palace of Fine Arts Theater, has occupied the southern 1/3 since 1970.   

photo by Styrous®
          

There are other buildings from the Exposition that still stand today, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium at Civic Center Plaza (link below) and the Japanese Tea house, which was barged down the Bay to Belmont, California and currently operates as a restaurant.

The Legion of Honor Museum, in Lincoln Park, was the gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, wife of the sugar magnate and thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder Adolph B. Spreckels. The building is a full-scale replica of the French Pavilion from the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, which in turn was a three-quarter-scale version of the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur also known as the Hôtel de Salm in Paris by George Applegarth and H. Guillaume. At the close of the exposition, the French government granted Spreckels permission to construct a permanent replica of the French Pavilion, but World War I delayed the groundbreaking until 1921.


images from Wikipedia:
 
Fountain of Energy



India Block
 


 Palace of Horticulture




Palace of Horticulture & the Tower of Jewels




Panama Canal 




more  postcards 




  

 
Tower of Jewels - left, Italian Tower - right
Panama–Pacific International Exposition - Project Gutenberg
            
          
Viewfinder links:           
               
            
          
            
          
Net links:           
               
SF Public Library ~ Panama-Pacific International Exposition virtual tour   
            
          
           
            
          
           
           
               
            
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, December 5, 2017            


















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