39 ARCHITECTURE OF 1'liJiJ EXPOSITION

ferent to be interesting and the lit-tle stair-case turrets at either side of the main tower are particularlY happy in their proportions and deli-cate moldings. The two structares on the east side of the Plaza, For-eign Arts and :Eiome Economy, are somewhat similar in mass but have widely divergent details. That at the northeast corner derives its inspiration from the famous Casa rle Monterey at Salamanca and be-longs to the earliest of Spanish Renaissance architecture, which was known as plateresqne (from pbtero -si\versmith)-from the dehcacY and ]ow relief of the ornament cus-tomarilY employed by silversmith At a later period J1l Spalll the or-nament employed became much coarser and heavier and was called "Churrigueresque" in honor of the a r c h i t e c t Churrigue~a, Jts be_st known exponent. 'J'he difference lD these two styles is very easy to de-tect. The plateresque orntJllleDt

0~ the building (Casa de M:OntereY) JS delicate in detail, more f\ond on the Foreign Arls building, just to the outh and even ,narc pondero~" ~n th~ building of the San _JoaqUin Valley counties between tins build-in and the OrgaJl p\azll- rhe _or-

g of the sacramento buildm~ instance, never be spoken

I

~"""' ,wd ju~t i8 thr 1 l~tnJ

,(nil"" cAII

BY

I EDGAR L. HEWETT and WM TE>IPLETON JOH!

ARC ITECTURE OF THE EXPOSITION By EDGAR L. H EWETT "L~o W?.r. TE?.LPLETON JoHNSON.

T HE 1-'J tP of the expo!;ition i B al-boa Park a high nearly level

plateau di\er..:ified by deep canymt!: and lyi11~ le"s than a mi~e from the center of the town. It commanrl a super! Yiew of the urrounding country. ~i th ranae after ranae 0f mountm 1, to the east and ~outh stretchin ~ fa r down into Mexico, wbere tl , flat top of Tahle :J[onn-tain i .1 ily rccop:nized. The city and the 1 q arr below in the imme-diate fr ~rounrl : then Coronado Beach n 1 the Pacific Ocean, with the sha1 on tline of the :Jf exican Coronarl0 T sland on the horizon. Somrthi1 :~ of the hi toric and ar-chitectur ,] srttin~ of the expo ition should ],p srt down before takina up those phases of Rpecial interec:'t to the Rfncl!'nts of ocial life and customs of the changing peoples of the Southwest.

~he earl.v hi~tory of California, Anzona and Tew :Mexico i~ linked indissoluhlv with that of Spain. Nearly a hnndrrd vears before the PilgrimR lanclNl at Plvmonth Coro-nado and hi~ little h~nd of 'aclvf'n-turers pushed up the Rio Granile valley, probably af' far as Colorado. Cab.rillo explored the coast of Lower California ani! Railed into San Diego bay. The Dominican and Francis-can Fathers nnrlerwent fri..,.htfnl ~ardships in found in~ their" m is-SJOn R in the h:1rren wastes of Lo"ller California : hut from l 769. "hen th~ devout Serra and his fellow-Pnests planterl the great eros~ on the shore of San Dieao hav their jrouhle, exrept for ;aids by. the ndians, were. nr::trly over. In a ~ew Years twentv-thrf.e mi~~ions had

De.en fonnneil stretrhin

_1ROHITEOTURE OF THE EXPOSITION 35

everything that a vivid imagination could turn into sculpture; yet, with all its eccentricities, and unfamiliar as it is to most American , it i a style which is quite irresistible in its charm.

The main entrance to the expo-sition is reached by means of a maO'-nificent roncrete bridge panning the Cabril lo Canyon, and at the end of this bridge there ri es a pani h eity of the ~eventeenth century, it towers and domes gli tening in the sun.

On the right. are grouped on the edge of the Canvon the various state building'-, that of New Mexico, taken from the archaic mi sion of Acoma, standing out among the others. On the left, in the back-grouni! , there are the structures of the Isthmus, termina ted by the

Pai~t~d De~ert, the very successful exhibit of the Santa Fe Railway. In the centrr riee the magnificent tr.wer and dome of the California 'Quadrangle.

~o .one can view this noble group, bmlt m imperishable concrete with-out a feelin g of profound obligation to the architect, :Mr. Bertram G. Goodhue, a'Ild his able a~si tant, l\fr. Carleton :M. Winslow, under whose personal supervision it wa con-structed .. The Californ ia Quadran-gle furmshed the artietic keynote ;? the Panama-Caltfornia Exposi-

i~on .. It establishei! a plane of lofty f eahsm for the Fair and for the

w~nm great city of San Diego. It l be the imperishable monument 0 the Expo~ition. bu~h~ Quadrangle comprises the C ~l.~mg~ surrounding the Plaza de e ~ 1 orma, a paved square which is p ered at the eaet end of the Br~de n t e de Cabrillo (Cabrillo 1 ge) throu~h the most impooin(l' arch f tl , . . . , " b 0 1e tc.xposltwn. Th1s has d~~~1named the Ocean Gate, for the 1 . e reason that it faces the sea /h Jntg to the west of the city and ~ a 1n 't ' r

1 s sculptural motive it rep-esents sy b 1'

.Atlanr m 0 Ica lly the union of the lc and Pacific Oceans by the

completion of the Panama Canal, the event which the San Diego Ex-po ition was designed to elebr~te. The reclining figure on the left relJ resents the Atlantic, that upon the

ri~ht the Pacific. The waters of the two seas are being mingled. R. -tween is seen the great seal of tLe cit.v of San Diego

The entrance to the Quadrangle from the east is .hy way of the Prano Gate, less pretentious and yet of trong architectural value. A minor

entrance ifl under the arcnne at the northeaFt corner by way of the Gar-

d~n Gate which opens from the Plaza into the gardens to the north and east of the Quadrangle.

The south side is occupied by the Fine rts Building. It is in plain California Mission style. In front are to be een the massive arched portales which are extended on the

.t l. IIITEOT 'RE OF THE EXPO ITION 37

northea t or h buildina . From here the arr , !.,em nt d mall dome. is be. t . ecn 1 or tlv anhit tnral relation of Ill' uatlrana) to the Admini. trat 11. }'in .\ rt and ad-jacent buihl. 1g on i !. P rado, one hould h1 th illu !ration h r~

with pre< r t d. The 11 r nin ui!clina i-. a nne

fXam ple o . nnn i h _.,nni" anrr ar-thitecturc. 'I h \"1~ i~ that of the eigh teenth ntun ~tlth clral' of Mexico ant! 1. 'entrnl _\ m rica . For its more rer c t , n !l,1gv on mu. t go hark to :pain . f tnl\ and the Moorish lanl -

Every h1 r of art wi ll h intcr-e ted in w '"km~ on! th nrch nrol -ogy of thi m ngnifir nt building. 11Ia terpicrc of c cl ia ... tirnl arcl!i-tecture of tl ... ln t fourt n centu-rie have fn rni -.hr

...

0

I l J

RCHITE TURE OF TilE EXPOSITION 39

mall de r n in th rna ire por-tal, the ". ell Ev '' of the an-cient w lf'd iti ~C th rient through 'I hi th b lat d traveler might by nnlondina hi arne!, gain entrancr h the itv after niahtrall. The hernlclr\' of the door will re-pay can ful tucly.

The Prado or main . tr et of the Exp ~itwn i purpo 1 narrowed to create thr f t oC a thoroughfare in one of th old pani h citie in the day' wht>n broad road were a)-roo t un kum n. It i planted with black arnr1a nnd the vine-covered aroade. whirh hord r it are a fea-ture or t hC' p 'ition.

W a I k i n cr a. tward alona the Prado one find on the right a charmi n!; little formal arden a piea ing rari ation from the general plantin~ ~cheme. which i. natural-i tic in it tr atmC'nt. n the left shoul d h

AROHI!I'EOTURE OF THE EXPOSITION

in this climate for a conservatory is not to provide great warmth but simply to break up the rays of the sun so that the interior of the build-ing may have a semi-shade- The Bntanical Building faces a very ef-fective little stretch of ornamental water, the treatment of the pool di-rectly in front of the center being ?eautifully carried out with plant-mgs of bamboo and lotus which give a really tropical effect. Inside are growing palms and semi-tropical plants w~ich attain such perfection m the climate of Southern Califor-

ni~. The planting of the gardens adJacent to the Botanical Building is one of the many clever touches of the landscape- architect's art and something which many people are apt to pass over unnoticed.

The Southern California Coun-ties Building at the eastern end of the Prado is a verv successful com-bination of Califo~nia Mission and

~parrish-Renaissance elements and Is nat~rally the building in which San DICgan~ take great pride.

The architecture of the Isthmus ~peaks fo~ itself and much of it not m a whisper. However no one should miss visiting th; Painted De~ert, the exhibit of the Santa Fe Railway at the northern extremity of the grounds. It is taken from the !ndian pueblo of Taos of New Mexico :md the designer-Mr. J. L.

Ntlsba~nn-has done a very remark-able plece of work in creating the

at.m~Rpllere of an ancient pueblo Withm a few months' time H tl I d. . ere, le n lans are at work at th . usual occupation~, s?me making r~~~ te;y, others desigmng silver ware sbll olhers weaving baskets. Ther~

are buildings showing the favorite methods of construction of the P ue-blo, Navajo and Apache Ind1ans, and the whole exhibit i as careful a representation of the fast disap-pearing culture of the Americar1 In-dians as it is po sible to make 1t.

A short and very attractive walk may be taken through the grounds starting from the south side of the little formal garden at the rast of the Fine Arts Building. Wind ing paths lead one under vine-covered pergolas, through clusters of euca-lyptus trees, between the branches of which one may catch occasional glimpses of the beautiful tower of the California Building. One soon encounters the inner end of one of the small canyons which diversify the park. Here, the planting is of particular beat1ty, with palms in the bottom of the canyon where th ere is the moPt water and native shrubs 1re climbing the sides. The end of the ]:':Jth leads one to the roadway going toward the Organ 1md the group of State buildings, of which that of New Mexico is particularly note-~orth:v because of its archaic Span-Ish-New Mexican architechue. One should step into the Jew Mexican Building and examine the roof of the chapel with its vigas (round beams) supported on carved corbels, the curious fireplaces and the fasci-nating little placita, one of the typi-cal elements of Spanish houses.

~peaking of the Exposition ar-chitecture as a whole it must be re-garded as an emin:ntly st1ccessful example of group planning and harmony, both in architecture and planting