A Palace by the Bay

San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts was built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition, which celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal and the recovery of San Francisco after the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906.

Designed by Berkeley's best-known architect, Bernard Maybeck, the Palace is the only remnant of the sprawling Exposition, built on filled land in the Marina District — the part of the city hardest hit in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989.

Built originally out of wood and plaster, the Palace was intended to last a year, but the building captured the city's heart and was saved by a series of restoration efforts beginning right after the Exposition closed in 1915. With restoration completed in 1975, the complex now houses a theater and the Exploratorium science museum — and the only Fine Arts are in the name alone.

The park is now surrounded on three sides by residential property, and the fourth by the Presidio of San Francisco and a freeway, but it provides a quiet place to escape from the bustling city.

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USA-Canada / USA-California

Lat: 37° 48' 10.4" N
Long: 123° 27' 49.99" W

Elevation: 5 meters

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Nikon D40x with Sigma 8mm Fisheye f.4, mounted on home-built pano head on 10 ft Impact light stand, using gentLED infrared shutter trigger. Four RAW images processed on an iMac 24 in Photoshop CS3, stitched in PTGui 8.0, aided by Pangea PanoPreviewer, and converted to VR with ClickHere Design's CubicConverter 2.1.3.