California Building
The Arches of the Colonnade

The Mission Padres had built neither in magnificence nor in magnitude,
and as both of these were requisite qualities in the construction of the
California Building, they presented peculiar problems, and were treated
with the thought of what one of the old Padres with a limited knowledge
of architecture would have done if presented with the larger problem. So
it seemed that the entrance foyer should be quiet, and massive and
should form a nucleus to all parts of the building. The magnitude of the
edifice was so great that all the existing Missions of California could
be housed therein, and in order to show the largeness of its proportions
and varied functions, each part was designed as a motif in itself and
closely related to that part by which it stood.

From the forecourt in replica of the Forbidden Garden of Santa Barbara,
surrounded by old cypress hedges, by driveways, and walled in by
cloistered arches, one can find the principal entrances to all the main
divisions of the building, and also to the administrative portion which
contains the executive offices of the Exposition and the official
reception and banquet rooms.



California Building
A Vista in the Colonnade

The cloistered colonnades so intimately associated with Mission
architecture have been successfully handled in the Court of the