Thursday, March 26, 2009

San Diego 1935: Federal Building.....

The California-Pacific International Exposition's Federal Building was located at the north-east corner of the Plaza de America, facing El Prado; and was designed as a permanent reinforced-concrete structure, to be converted into a theatre after the close of the exposition. Architect Richard Requa based the design of the building on the Palace of the Governor, located within the ancient Mayan settlement of Uxmal, in Yucatan, Mexico. The massive square building featured a low front wing with a triangular-shaped entrance portal, containing a colorful window of reverse-painted glass depicting a standing Mayan priest and a crouching submissive Indian. Flanking the entrance were low towers scored to resemble large stone blocks, covered at their upper levels with elaborately massed and colored Mayan-style ornamentation, created from fibre-wallboard. Wide geometrically-patterned cornices surrounded the structure's two roof levels, and a columned Mayan-style portico overlooked a small tropical garden situated at the rear of the building. The spacious interior contained exhibits representing more than twenty departments of the United States Government.

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