The Palace of Fine Arts that is in the Marina District of San Francisco, California is a monumental structure originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in order to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 1974, it is the only structure from the Exposition that survives on site.
The most prominent building of the complex, a 162 feet (49 m) high open rotunda, is enclosed by a lagoon on one side, and is neighboring a large, curved exhibition center on the other side, which is separated from the lagoon by colonnades. As of 2019, the exhibition center (one of San Francisco's largest single-story buildings) was being used as a venue for events such as weddings or trade fairs.
Conceived to evoke a decaying ruin of ancient Rome, the Palace of Fine Arts became one of San Francisco's most recognizable landmarks.[ A renovation of the lagoon, walkways, and a seismic retrofit were completed in early 2009.
In 1964, the original Palace was completely demolished, with only the steel structure of the exhibit hall left standing. The buildings were then reconstructed until 1974in permanent, light-weight, poured-in-place concrete, and steel I-beams were hoisted into place for the dome of the rotunda. All the decorations and sculpture were constructed anew. The only changes were the absence of the murals in the dome, two end pylons of the colonnade, and the original ornamentation of the exhibit hall.
Chris Mueller, Jr. (1906-1987) was a real-life sculptor, make-up artist and special-effects technician who worked on the films 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), The Land Unknown (1957), The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), This Island Earth (1955), and Jaws 2 (1978). Mueller also was the sculptor of the original animal figures used on the Jungle Cruise.
