Tag: botanical building

Historic pergola returning to Balboa Park!

San Diego is going to be made even more beautiful!

A shady pergola that once stood near Balboa Park’s Botanical Building during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition is to be rebuilt!

The construction of the pergola is part of a larger Botanical Building and Gardens revitalization project. The Botanical Building’s amazing restoration has been completed, so it’s on to Phase 2, which includes bringing back into existence this historic pergola.

I noticed a sign on a patch of grass during my most recent visit to Balboa Park. It indicates the future site of the Botanical Building Historical Pergola.

You can learn more about the project by visiting Forever Balboa Park’s website here.

The pergola site is beside the west fountain in the front of the Botanical Building. The next photo provides an idea. (Behind it you can see the San Diego Museum of Art.)

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The restored Botanical Building opens in Balboa Park!

In 2024, the highlight of December Nights in Balboa Park is the opening of the restored Botanical Building, one of San Diego’s iconic landmarks!

After a two and a half year restoration project, which saw its steel skeleton repaired and new wood lath installed, the Botanical Building now more closely resembles how it originally appeared when it first opened during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition!

Enjoy these photographs, taken shortly after the historic structure reopened this afternoon.

WOW!!!

The interior of the Botanical Building now appears much more airy, light-filled and spacious. The amazing lath roof is more prominent, now that tall, leafy old trees have been trimmed down or removed.

Most of the new plants and trees still have much growing to do. Two beautiful new fountains greet visitors at either end of the garden. And, for the holiday season, many poinsettias are colorfully displayed!

Thank you Forever Balboa Park, the City of San Diego, and all those involved in restoring one of our city’s true treasures!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

San Diego history on a Christmas tree!

This holiday season, the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park features beautiful Christmas trees in its spacious atrium. Not only has the 15 feet high Christmas tree made of blooming red poinsettias returned, but several smaller green trees twinkle nearby.

The more traditional Christmas trees were decorated by the San Diego Floral Association and are an extension of their Festival of Trees, a favorite December Nights attraction inside Room 101 at the Casa del Prado.

One of these trees I really like. It’s filled with old images from San Diego history!

I took a few photographs…

Kate Sessions’ Christmas Tree of 1915.

Panama California Exposition San Diego, California 1915.

Streetscape in front of the Hotel Del Coronado.

Dearest Kate, Here is a picture of your “Blank Canvas.” Your plants are growing beautifully. Your friend, Anna Marston. (Photo of the Marston House.)

Botanical Building in 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.

Thank you for sharing!

Completed restoration of historic Botanical Building!

A San Diego gem, the historic Botanical Building in Balboa Park, which first opened its doors for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915, has been completely restored. Look how fresh and beautiful it now appears!

Not open quite yet! The plants in the iconic building are busy growing, drinking in the San Diego sunshine under their new huge wood lath roof. They might get a little rain tomorrow!

I took these photographs as I walked around Balboa Park today.

I can’t wait for the Botanical Building to reopen its doors to the public. Stay tuned for an announcement from the City of San Diego’s Parks and Recreation.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Restoration of Botanical Building in Balboa Park looks amazing!

Look at these photographs that were taken last week!

I was heading through Balboa Park to the Comic-Con Museum (for my Comic-Con coverage) when I noticed that the restoration of the Botanical Building appears to be near completion. Look how amazingly beautiful it’s going to be!

Workers were busy painting the non-lath lower part of the immense structure. The area in front of the Botanical Building behind the construction fence, where grassy lawns and a small section of the lily pond have existed, was still mostly bare dirt.

If you’d like to see photos showing different stages of the Botanical Building’s deconstruction and restoration, and read more info concerning it (going back over two years), you can click here and here and here and here and here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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.

Elegant beauty returns as Botanical Building rebuilt!

The shapely, elegant beauty of Balboa Park’s Botanical Building is returning!

San Diego’s iconic wood and steel structure, which was badly in need of repair, is in the process of being rebuilt.

I took these photographs today. Compare them to photos I took months ago. You can view those here.

New wood lath now forms the airy roof of one wing. When it was built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, Balboa Park’s amazing Botanical Building was one of the largest lath structures in the world!

I can’t wait to see it finished!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

New wood for the Botanical Building restoration!

The restoration of Balboa Park’s monumental Botanical Building is proceeding right along. New wood is being used to beautifully recreate the historic structure!

When built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, the Botanical Building was one of the largest lath structures in the world. A century later, wood rot and termite damage had taken a severe toll. This project, supported by the National Park Service, State of California, City of San Diego, and Forever Balboa Park, includes the full restoration of the building to its original 1915 design, recreating the series of arched openings with Palladian windows and large doors, opening the inside space to the surrounding gardens as intended.

It will be fascinating to watch as new lath is applied to the large, supporting steel structure, which is also being renovated one section at a time.

Here’s another web page that describes the Botanical Building restoration and additional improvements, such as the reconstruction of a pergola that once stood on the west lawn near The San Diego Museum of Art.

UPDATE!

Here’s a photo showing great progress! I took this in January, 2024…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Reinforcing history in Balboa Park!

Sparks were flying today in San Diego’s amazing Balboa Park!

As I walked near the Botanical Building, I noticed a small army of people working to preserve and improve the historic structure.

I spoke briefly to someone working on the project. He explained that the base of the colossal, over one hundred year old steel structure is being replaced. That’s because there’s a lot of weight to support!

I also learned that the steel framework of the Botanical Building was originally assembled using rivets, as was common in the past. The aging upper structure is being reinforced where necessary, including areas where past patchwork repairs were made.

I asked why the steel skeleton couldn’t be entirely replaced. The answer, of course, is that the Botanical Building has special historical status. It was built in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition. It was one of the few exposition structures intended to be permanent.

How long will the structure endure once this restoration is completed? I asked. Well over a century was the answer!

Finally, as I walked about I noticed the removed cupola has been placed in a fenced area at the center of a nearby parking lot.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

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 Twitter!

Another fine Sunday walk in Balboa Park!

Early October. A walk in Balboa Park. Another fine Sunday full of sunshine and magic.

I headed nowhere in particular.

Visitors to wonderful Balboa Park stream down El Prado.

Does the Botanical Building appear strange? It’s in the middle of its big renovation! But the Lily Pond is as beautiful as ever.

A local artist smiles and shows her colorful work.

She makes awesome papier-mache figures. I recognize Frida Kahlo!

My friend Mitchell was on El Prado playing his didgeridoo.

I got a cookie. (And more smiles!) Proceeds help the San Diego Civic Dance Arts, whose home is the Casa del Prado Theater.

Why are peanuts in a pile inside the Spanish Village Art Center?

That’s why!

Lunch time for a squirrel in the park.

Here comes the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad! Kids love it. The small train ride is operated by the nearby San Diego Zoo.

A big Balboa Park Spooktacular is coming up at the Municipal Gym on Saturday October 29, 2022. There will be a costume contest!

The House of Austria had their lawn program today. I got a folk costume preview as I strolled early through the International Cottages.

Gazing down into the lush Lower Garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden.

Shortly after noon, not many had arrived yet for the two o’clock Sunday concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez rehearses up on the stage.

Spreckels Organ Society member pulls a sign out for the free Sunday concert.

Everyone loves Balboa Park. Including friends with four legs!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Botanical Building’s deconstruction continues!

Out with the old first. Later in with the new!

The iconic 1915 Botanical Building in Balboa Park is in the process of being rebuilt. Three months ago I took a few photographs of some early “deconstruction” activity. Since then more of the lath structure near the ground has been removed, and the building looks increasingly skeletal!

I walked around the Botanical Building’s construction fence today and took these photos. You can contrast them with the photos I took in February here. That older blog post also provides some interesting details concerning this very important, historic project!

You can see how the Lily Pond directly adjacent to the structure has been drained.

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