Palace of Fine Arts
Posted by: 
ucdvicky
N 37° 48.178 W 122° 26.900
10S E 548564 N 4184097
"The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California is a building originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition."
Waymark Code: WM2QA2
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/06/2007
Views: 56
"It was designed by Bernard Maybeck, who took his inspiration from Roman and Greek architecture.[1] The sculptured frieze and allegorical figures representing Contemplation, Wonderment and Meditation were created by Ulric Ellerhusen.[2] It was one of only two buildings from the exposition not to be demolished (the other being the Japanese Tea House.[3]), and in the 1960s it was entirely rebuilt to ensure its longevity.[4] The exhibition hall, which originally housed Impressionist paintings during the exposition, is now home to the Exploratorium, a state of the art interactive science museum. There is also a replica of the Palace of Fine Arts in Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim.[5]
A single dome remains from the eight identical structures that were originally constructed. Towering colonnaded walkways linked the buildings on the site, but only a few remain intact.
The Palace of Fine Arts has been a favorite wedding location for brides and grooms throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In recent years the Palace of Fine Arts has fallen into ill repair, and a fundraising effort was launched.
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. In many places the edges are subsiding into the water, forming uneven and dangerous surfaces that are fenced off from the public and used by turtles to sun themselves. Australian eucalyptus trees fringe the eastern shores. Many forms of wildlife have made their home there including swans, ducks (particularly migrating fowl), geese, turtles, and frogs.
Other cities with buildings called "The Palace of Fine Arts" include Chicago (built for the 1893 Worlds Fair & today the home of the Museum of Science & Industry), and Mexico City.
The dome of the Palace of Fine Arts just outside the Exploratorium and the adjacent lagoon have often been used as backdrops for movies, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. One of the more recent sequences takes place in The Rock, where FBI agent Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) finally catches up with John Mason (Sean Connery) and So I Married an Axe Murderer, where Charlie MacKenzie (Mike Myers) goes on his first date with Harriet (Nancy Travis)."
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