Emergence of a regional city (1900–1941)

The full story

San Diego’s early twentieth-century expositions reshaped Balboa Park and gave the city a lasting architectural image. The Panama–California Exposition of 1915–16 used elaborate Spanish Colonial Revival buildings along El Prado, while the 1935–36 California Pacific International Exposition extended the park’s cultural landscape. Architect Bertram Goodhue’s designs drew on Mexican and Spanish precedents rather than the plainer mission style common in California at the time. Walk the central promenade to see towers, arcades, courtyards and ornament working as a unified stage. Many buildings now house museums, so the exposition fabric still organizes a cultural district. The San Diego Zoo also grew from the first exposition’s animal displays, linking a temporary civic event with one of the city’s enduring institutions.