Should you ever visit the museum in La Jolla, step into this space and look up. Move about as your eyes are lifted. See how the light and form changes as if by magic. (Come to think of it, doesn’t the entire world operate this way?)
The Axline Court was designed by famed postmodern architect Robert Venturi. It was part of a 1996 expansion of the historic building, which originally was home to newspaper journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps.
The star-shaped Axline Court, a spacious atrium with simple white columns, bright high angled windows, and curvaceous neon fringed fins descending from the ceiling, was retained in the building’s latest redesign and expansion. Today it can be used as a gallery, or for weddings or special events.
I wandered about the space and took these photos. You have to experience the magical effect yourself. I personally wonder how, with the neon, it appears at night.
(My next blog post will concern an exhibition of art by Hoover High School students along one wall. You can glimpse a bit of it on a table in the next photo.)
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Large display cases contain old photographs, newspaper articles, documents and preserved artifacts representing the bridge’s complex history–from initial proposals to its construction to its grand opening and beyond.
Peering into the displays, reading descriptions, I learned interesting facts about the Coronado Bridge, including:
In 1926, the Spreckels Companies announced bold plans to construct a steel bridge linking Coronado to San Diego, envisioning an engineering marvel with arched spans and a lift section for maritime traffic. This news thrilled many residents eager for a fast connection to the mainland. Advocating for a tunnel instead, the Navy raised concerns about navigation and national defense. Despite initial optimism and plans for completion by 1928, the project became embroiled in decades of debate, delays, and revisions.
Mosher’s design was initially rejected by the state’s civil engineers for being too expensive. They proposed a more traditional trestle bridge, suggesting it be painted rust red or pink. Ultimately, Mosher’s design was accepted.
Water-tight caissons were placed on the bay bottom and pumped dry, while prestressed concrete pilings were driven over 100 feet into the bay floor. To complete the 30 towers, 100,000 tons of concrete were transported by barge for the construction of the piers.
The superstructure contractor Murphy Pacific fabricated the steel box girders in San Francisco before dismantling them and loading them onto a barge called “Marine Boss,” whose deck was the size of a football field. The barge was towed to San Diego Bay, where the girders were reassembled. The “Marine Boss” boom was extended to 290 feet to lift the massive box girder sections–up to 96 feet long and weighing as much as 215 tons–into place.
The final span, one of 27 girders, was placed on May 28, 1969. Coronado Mayor Paul Vetter participating in the informal ceremony, signing his name on the metal plate at the edge of the girder.
Mosher’s original design included lights on the low side of the railing, but they were cut to reduce costs… Coronado resident Carol Cahill…flew to Sacramento, successfully petitioned officials, and secured their installation. The lights were added in April 1970.
In 1970, the bridge received the National Award of Merit for Most Beautiful Bridge from the American Institute of Steel Construction.
The bridge’s 90-degree curve allows it to reach a height of 200 feet, tall enough for an empty aircraft carrier to pass underneath, while also providing the necessary length to ramp down to the Coronado side, which is significantly lower than the San Diego side that connects to Interstate 5.
I was told by a library employee that this fascinating exhibit will be on view through early May, 2025. Go check it out!
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The public seldom gets to step into Balboa Park’s historic Pratt Loggia. The columned, balcony-like loggia is easily seen when gazing up from El Prado at the Casa del Prado. You can see it in my next photograph:
During a recent tour of Balboa Park conducted by the Committee of 100, an organization working to preserve Balboa Park’s historic architecture, gardens and public spaces, I was fortunate to step foot into the Pratt Loggia and discover something wonderful.
Before our special tour entered the loggia, we were shown a plaque. It lists the people instrumental in funding the loggia’s creation back in 1971, during the Casa del Prado’s reconstruction.
According to this San Diego History Center webpage: During the course of reconstruction it was discovered that the bond issue did not allow for an expenditure of $70,000 to rebuild the second-level fluted, striated columns with capitals of cupids and the ornate balustrade on the outside loggia of the south building. The Committee of 100 raised the needed money with $50,000 coming from Mrs. Jeannette Pratt, in whose honor the reconstructed gallery was named the “Jeannette Pratt Loggia.”
Our group observed how the plaque contains a Who’s Who of leading San Diego citizens back in 1970s, including the Copleys, Cushmans, Fletchers, Rohr, Ryans, Scripps, and many others. Bea Evenson led the creation of the loggia.
And now here is the beautiful loggia!
We were surprised to see numerous bells in the Pratt Loggia: a few along the balustrade and many others contained in large display cases at either end.
These bells were sent to San Diego from cities around the nation during our city’s bicentennial back in 1969! To mark the 200 year anniversary celebration, San Diego wrote to these cities asking for a donated bell.
What was received? There are fire bells, school bells, bells of all sizes and kinds!
This big one rang loudly and deeply!
THIS BELL IS IN MEMORIAM OF SAN DIEGO’S 200 YEARS. FROM TOPEKA, KANSASSAN DIEGO 1769 BICENTENNIALPRESENTED TO THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 200TH ANNIVERSARY BY THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON, D. C.
Another wonderful surprise in San Diego’s ever-amazing Balboa Park!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
If you drive up La Jolla Boulevard, just north of Bird Rock, you might see the impressive building in these photographs.
When I visited the La Jolla Historical Society a while back, I learned something very surprising. This ornate building–the main chapel for the La Jolla United Methodist Church–was once a railroad station and power substation for San Diego Electric Railway, the San Diego streetcar line established by John D. Spreckels!
I’ve found several great articles concerning this history. Here and here and here.
The 1924 Spanish Colonial architectural style San Carlos Train Station served streetcar Route 16, which ran from San Diego to La Jolla. Route 16 was the San Diego Electric Railway’s last major rail line expansion. In addition to downtown San Diego and La Jolla, the route included stops in Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. The streetcars ran through 1940.
The San Carlos terminal building would then be used for several years as an art school. In 1954, the La Jolla United Methodist Church bought the building.
Check out the first and third links above for a few old photographs. You’ll see how the train station and substation stood alone in undeveloped land a century ago.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
People who enter Balboa Park through its grand west entrance pass a “hidden” balcony that few observe or know about!
The second floor balcony at the Museum of Us is accessible to museum visitors through the Living with Animals exhibit. The patio-like balcony, with its welcoming chairs and tables, offers views from the southwest corner of the California Quadrangle.
Visitors enjoy views over the Rube Powell Archery Range toward downtown San Diego, and of the Cabrillo Bridge to the west. There’s a fantastic view of the historic Balboa Park Administration Building across El Prado.
The next two photographs show the exterior of the Saint Francis Chapel at the southwest corner of the California Quadrangle.
Looking over the Rube Powell Archery Range toward State Route 163 and hazy downtown San Diego…
Now we’re looking west along El Prado toward the Cabrillo Bridge. Few people entering Balboa Park will notice the little known balcony as they approach the park’s grand west entrance…
The Administration Building, seen fully in the next photo, was the first building constructed (1911-1912) in Balboa Park for the Panama-California Exposition.
Final architectural plans for the Administration Building were developed by Carlton Winslow under the direction of lead exposition architect Bertram Goodhue.
(If it appears the building was designed by Irving Gill, here’s an article that casts doubt on this and discusses the issue.)
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
A historical plaque can be found in front of the Carlsbad by the Sea Retirement Community. I noticed it during my last walk up Carlsbad Boulevard.
Here’s a photo:
The plaque reads:
CARLSBAD BY THE SEA RETIREMENT COMMUNITY
Dedicated June 20, 1998
In 1881, Captain John A. Frazier, a homesteader, purchased 127 acres of oceanfront land for $1200. While drilling for drinking water in 1884, Frazier tapped into an underground mineral spring. He built a 510 foot welltower and began promoting the water’s healing properties to passing travelers on the Southern California Railroad. The site became known as “Frazier’s Station”. In 1886 Gerhard Schutte and Samuel Church Smith purchased the land and renamed it “Carlsbad” with the intention of building a health resort. In 1929, after the paving of nearby Highway 101, construction began on the Spanish-Revival style “California-Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel” on this site. By 1939, the spa functions had ceased and the hotel changed owners several times. In 1957, Lutheran Services of San Diego purchased and re-opened the hotel as a retirement community. California Lutheran Homes acquired the community in 1964. The original building was demolished in 1996 to complete an expansion and modernization of the retirement community. The front facade has been reconstructed by California Lutheran Homes and Community Services as a replica of the original “California Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel.” A time capsule, buried behind this monument, will be opened 50 years from the ground breaking in October of 2046.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The Otay Mesa-Nestor Library currently has a great exhibit in their community room. Informative displays concern the work of renowned San Diego artist, architectural designer and sculptor James Hubbell in Mexico.
The exhibition, Architecture of Jubilation: Lado a Lado, was supposed to conclude in 2024, but has been extended. A librarian told me they’re hanging onto the exhibit as long as they can!
This afternoon I visited the library and gazed at photographs and descriptions of Hubbell’s amazing, organic architectural work in Mexico, including the elementary school Colegio La Esperanza in Tijuana, which he and thousands of community volunteers built.
Another display concerns his Kuchumaa Passage art park, which honors our region’s native Kumeyaay people. Hubbell, with artist Milenko Matanovic, assisted by more volunteers, created beauty on the grounds of Rancho La Puerta fitness spa and resort in Tecate, Mexico. The community-built art park would lead to the creation of Hubbell’s later Pacific Rim Park projects. (The one on Shelter Island–Pearl of the Pacific–can be seen here.)
Other Hubbell projects covered by the Architecture of Jubilation: Lado a Lado exhibit include the Museo Kumiai in Tecate, and Jardín de los Niños in Tijuana.
As one poster explains: Tijuana and San Diego are important cities that exist side by side, along a border that both divides and connects. James Hubbell honors this contradiction by using his art to bridge the border and build a tapestry of community. Thread by thread, Hubbell invites everyday people from Baja California and San Diego to join him in creating spaces of beauty and importance…
James Hubbell passed away last year, but his work will inspire many people and brighten our world far into the future.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The Shepherd YMCA Firehouse in La Jolla looks a lot like an old fire station. That’s because the historic building at 7877 Herschel Avenue once housed Fire Station Engine Company 13 . . . and City Hall, and a police station, a hospital room, and water department!
San Diego Architect Harold Abrams designed the 1937 building in the Spanish-Mission Revival style for the Works Progress Administration. In 1976, the fire and police stations relocated, and the building was used by City Lifeguards for a decade. It was later used by the Library Department for storage during branch renovations.
In 1988 the building opened as a Teen/Senior Community Center, then became a performing arts center in the early 2000s, then a gymnastics program center.
A renovation in 2015 led to the building’s reopening as the Shepherd YMCA Firehouse, which today is available as a very cool community space.
I learned all this several days ago during a walk in La Jolla. I was invited inside, where I could see how the historic firehouse has evolved into a thriving center for classes, meetings, programs and events. The old jail cell from its days as police station still exists, too!
What an attractive interior, and amazing wood beam ceiling!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The school’s once drab appearance as seen from Park Boulevard is being radically altered. As you can see from these photographs taken today, a very cool new entrance is being built. San Diego’s oldest high school is being modernized!
The San Diego High School Administration & Classroom Building (Building 100) was an addition completed in 1976, and had all the stark aesthetics of many buildings designed in that era. The building serves as entrance to the campus.
Take a look at what’s coming!
You can see how the new glassy entrance with its cantilevered, sleekly projecting roof will make San Diego High School a new downtown landmark at the south end of Balboa Park! (Yes, the school is actually located inside Balboa Park.)
To learn about all the changes that are being made, and to view a flyover video of the project, check out the design team’s website here.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
“One’s home is one’s castle” is a literal reality in San Diego’s Serra Mesa neighborhood!
I’d heard this castle-house was under construction earlier this year, so today I took a walk in Serra Mesa to see it. It’s on a residential street among more ordinary looking homes. Can you imagine living here? How cool would that be!
It’s a private residence, so I’ll not provide an address. Just keep your eyes peeled if you happen to be driving in Serra Mesa. Out of the blue you might stumble upon a medieval castle!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
