Balboa Park Prado and 1915 Exposition Buildings

The Prado in Balboa Park, centered on El Prado in San Diego, California, is the main promenade of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, held to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and to promote San Diego as the first US port of call north of the canal. Planning was led by Bertram Goodhue, who chose an ornate Spanish Colonial Revival style inspired by Spanish baroque and Mexican architecture, with Carleton Winslow as associate architect and Frank Allen Jr. in charge of the fair's construction. Several buildings were meant to be temporary but were so popular that San Diegans preserved them. The surviving structures include the California Quadrangle, the entrance to which is the California Building with its tower topped by tiles and statues of Spanish figures, along with the Casa del Prado, the Botanical Building and the Lily Pond, and the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, which dates to 1914. The Botanical Building, a lath structure completed in 1915, was one of the largest wooden lath buildings in the world. The park hosted the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition, and its buildings were reused by museums. Many of the original 1915 buildings, built with temporary materials, deteriorated and were rebuilt in permanent concrete from the 1960s onward, with reconstruction efforts continuing into the 21st century. The area is now home to numerous museums, including the San Diego History Center and Museum of Us, as well as gardens and the Spreckels Organ, where free concerts are held on Sundays. Its approach is that of an outdoor architectural district, with sculptural details, arcades, fountains and tilework. The Prado is free to walk, and museums charge separately, generally opening around 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. It is a National Historic Landmark District and the center of San Diego's cultural life.