By Anthea M. Hartig, Ph.D.
Executive Director & CEO
California Historical Society

Long before autumn of 1915, one building emerged as the crowd favorite at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The Palace of Fine Arts both beguiled and dazzled the millions who had attended the Fair. One of many masterpieces by noted Bay-Area architect Bernard Maybeck, the Palace may have been inspired by Roman ruins and other classic European architecture, but its elegant, ethereal beauty–in a western, urban, port City without compare–clearly spoke to the hearts of visitors and San Franciscans alike.

As the December end of the Fair drew near, and its impermanent nature became real, October 16, 1915, was declared “Fine Arts Preservation Day.”  Exposition management dedicated 75% of all Fair dollars taken in that day above the daily average to a fund for the permanent preservation of the Palace of Fine Arts. On that day, according to Fair historian Laura Ackley, 92,865 visitors entered the gates, and by closing time at 11:00p.m. $8,000 had been collected for the cause. Adding most significantly to the efforts to save the building was the Chair of the PPIE’s Women’s Board, Phoebe Apperson Hearst.  In concert with her San Francisco Examiner publisher ... Read More >