California Building (Balboa Park) - San Diego, CA
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N 32° 43.892 W 117° 09.141
11S E 485725 N 3621535
The California Building is a prominent building and tower in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. It was constructed for the 1915 Panama–California Exposition.
Waymark Code: WM10CG6
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 04/13/2019
Views: 2
The California Building was developed for the 1915 expo and, unlike many of the other expo buildings, it was not designed to be temporary. In 1913, the San Diego Union called the building "...second in beauty only to the State Capital in Sacramento." When the expo ended in 1916, the building was given to the San Diego Museum. Although California owned the building, it was turned over to the San Diego government in 1926. In 1941, during World War II, the building was temporarily used as a hospital ward.
The building was designed by Bertram G. Goodhue and Carleton Winslow. The building's architectural style is based on Spanish Colonial Revival. Designed as part of the California Quadrangle, the several buildings were developed around a central square.
The tower portion of the building rises 200 feet (60.96 m). The tower is comprised of three tiers that shift from a quadrangle, octagon, and then a circle. The carillon, coupled with loudspeakers contained within the tower, play Westminster chimes every 15 minutes. The lower portion of the building is topped by a large dome coupled with several smaller domes. The dome's design looked to the dome at the Church of Santa Prisca and San Sebastián in Taxco, Mexico. Several inscriptions are included at the base of the dome, including a Latin translation of Deuteronomy 8:8 and California's state motto.
The facade of the building is covered with elaborate statues of several prominent people in California, England, Mexico, and Spain. These include Junípero Serra, Philip III of Spain, Sebastián Vizcaíno, George Vancouver, Luís Jayme, Carlos III of Spain, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Gaspar de Portolà, and Antonio de la Ascención.
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