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The Palace
of Fine Arts, with its crumbling dome and enduring Corinthian columns,
is a remnant of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, when the
City hosted nations in the Marina. With the Exposition San Francisco trumpeted
its rise from the ashes of the 1906 quake and fire. The structure was designed
by Berkeley architect Bernard Maybeck and was intended to be temporary.
It was rebuilt in the 1960s. More than a symbol, today the Palace of Fine
Arts is a tranquil park replete with natural beauty. The lagoon here is
favored by many ducks and swans,
in addition to some amorous turtles. By 2002,
a new renovation of the Palace of Fine Arts was sorely needed, both in the
dome and along it's disintegrating
walkway. Gone
now after a beautiful restoration, a hideous
chain link fence was a temporary safety
measure. The needed repairs to the lagoon
were underway in August, 2005.
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