1848
Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Sierra Nevada foothills.
1849
Gold Rush begins.
1850
California becomes a state.
1851
French baker Isadore Boudin opens a bakery in San Francisco and cultures “mother dough” for his sourdough bread.
1853
Levi Strauss leaves New York to open a clothing store in San Francisco.
1862
Architect Bernard Maybeck born in New York.
1862
First telegraph connection between New York and San Francisco.
1862-65
American Civil War.
1863
Ground broken in Sacramento for the Central Pacific Railroad.
1869
Transcontinental railroad completed.
1870
Work begins on Golden Gate Park, reclaiming and developing more than 1,000 acres of sand dunes at the City’s edge.
1873
First San Francisco cable car tested on Clay Street.
1874
Levi Strauss patents process for making riveted blue jeans.
First exhibit of Impressionist painting is held in Paris.
1880
Construction begins on Panama Canal, connecting Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
1890
After five years of study at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Bernard Maybeck moves to the Bay Area and settles in Berkeley.
April 18, 1906
San Francisco earthquake, measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale, and three-day fire devastate the City.
1906
San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel reopens.
1907
Jack London writes Martin Eden.
First exhibition of Cubist painting held in Paris.
First daily comic strip, “Mr. Mutt” (later “Mutt and Jeff”) by Bud Fisher, begins in San Francisco Chronicle.
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1910
San Franciscans pledge $5 million to secure the forth-coming Panama Pacific International Exposition.
1911
President William Howard Taft announces that San Francisco is chosen as official site of 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition.
1913
Bernard Maybeck chosen as architect for Palace of Fine Arts.
Woolworth Building, created by Cass Gilbert, opens in New York.
Last horse-drawn streetcar withdrawn from service in San Francisco.
1914
Panama Canal opens, changing the future of shipping and transportation.
Contractor J.D. Hannah constructs the Palace of Fine Arts.
1914-18
First World War.
Feb. 20, 1915
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) opens.
Dec. 4, 1915
PPIE closes.
1915
The Exposition Preservation League, founded during the PPIE and led by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, saves the Palace from demolition.
1916
Work begins on former site of exposition to create the Marina District.
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1919
Walter Gropius forms Bauhaus.
1920
First airmail flight travels from New York to San Francisco.
1920
Palace of the Legion of Honor, the French pavilion at the PPIE, is rebuilt at its current site in San Francisco in Beaux-Arts style.
1930s
Palace restored at a cost of $500,000. Repairs include replacing original wood footings and wood pile caps with concrete beams, correcting areas of settlement. Artists are commissioned under the WPA program to replace the decayed paintings in the rotunda ceiling.
1932
"The International Style: Architecture Since 1922" opens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, introducing American audiences to modernism.
1936
Oakland Bay Bridge opens.
Nazi exhibition Degenerate Art opens in Germany and Austria.
Frank Lloyd Wright designs “Fallingwater.”
1937
Golden Gate Bridge opens.
Picasso creates “Guernica” mural for Paris World Exhibition.
1938
Pilot Amelia Earhart disappears in flight over the Pacific.
Dec. 2, 1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor.
1941-47
U.S. Army uses the Palace of Fine Arts to store trucks and jeeps.
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1957
York Giants move to San Francisco; Brooklyn Dodg ers move to Los Angeles.
Bernard Maybeck dies at the age of 95.
State of California appropriates $2 million for restoration of the Palace on the condition that San Francisco provides an equal amount.
1959
A city bond passes that provides $1.8 million for the Palace. Financier Walter Johnson contributes an additional $2 million.
1964-67
Reconstruction and structural renovations help preserve the Palace. Park is named in honor of Walter S. Johnson, who lived across the street and gave a total of $4 million to restore the Palace.
1975
Ends of the Palace colonnades are completed. Fragments of the original building, including a Weeping Woman and four Dancing Maidens, are auctioned at the official celebration.
Oct. 17, 1989
Loma Prieta earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, levels buildings and starts fires in San Francisco’s Marina District. Marina residents help the fire department pump water from the Palace lagoon to fight the fires.
1990
Committee to Light Up the Palace raises funds for exterior lighting improvements to the rotunda and colonnades.
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2003
Campaign to Restore the Palace of Fine Arts begins fund-raising effort, with a visionary lead gift from the Friend Family Foundation and the Taube Family Foundation.
Fall 2004
Re-roofing of the rotunda completed, restoring the Palace dome to its original color.
Fall 2004 – Fall 2005
Restoration team works on Palace Lagoon.
Fall 2004 – Fall 2006
Restoration team works on eastern lagoon landscaping and lagoon wall.
August 2005
Mayor Gavin Newsom, city leaders, and neighbors gather to make the first cut in the cyclone fence surrounding the Palace lagoon — the first step in the restoration of Palace waters and grounds.
Dec.5, 2005
Palace of Fine Arts added to the National Register of Historic Places
Fall 2006 – Fall 2008
Restoration team works on Rotunda and Colonnades.
Return to the top of this page.
Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Sierra Nevada foothills.
1849
Gold Rush begins.
1850
California becomes a state.
1851
French baker Isadore Boudin opens a bakery in San Francisco and cultures “mother dough” for his sourdough bread.
1853
Levi Strauss leaves New York to open a clothing store in San Francisco.
1862
Architect Bernard Maybeck born in New York.
1862
First telegraph connection between New York and San Francisco.
1862-65
American Civil War.
1863
Ground broken in Sacramento for the Central Pacific Railroad.
1869
Transcontinental railroad completed.
1870
Work begins on Golden Gate Park, reclaiming and developing more than 1,000 acres of sand dunes at the City’s edge.
1873
First San Francisco cable car tested on Clay Street.
1874
Levi Strauss patents process for making riveted blue jeans.
First exhibit of Impressionist painting is held in Paris.
1880
Construction begins on Panama Canal, connecting Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
1890
After five years of study at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Bernard Maybeck moves to the Bay Area and settles in Berkeley.
April 18, 1906
San Francisco earthquake, measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale, and three-day fire devastate the City.
1906
San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel reopens.
1907
Jack London writes Martin Eden.
First exhibition of Cubist painting held in Paris.
First daily comic strip, “Mr. Mutt” (later “Mutt and Jeff”) by Bud Fisher, begins in San Francisco Chronicle.
Return to the top of this page.
1910
San Franciscans pledge $5 million to secure the forth-coming Panama Pacific International Exposition.
1911
President William Howard Taft announces that San Francisco is chosen as official site of 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition.
1913
Bernard Maybeck chosen as architect for Palace of Fine Arts.
Woolworth Building, created by Cass Gilbert, opens in New York.
Last horse-drawn streetcar withdrawn from service in San Francisco.
1914
Panama Canal opens, changing the future of shipping and transportation.
Contractor J.D. Hannah constructs the Palace of Fine Arts.
1914-18
First World War.
Feb. 20, 1915
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) opens.
Dec. 4, 1915
PPIE closes.
1915
The Exposition Preservation League, founded during the PPIE and led by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, saves the Palace from demolition.
1916
Work begins on former site of exposition to create the Marina District.
Return to the top of this page.
1919
Walter Gropius forms Bauhaus.
1920
First airmail flight travels from New York to San Francisco.
1920
Palace of the Legion of Honor, the French pavilion at the PPIE, is rebuilt at its current site in San Francisco in Beaux-Arts style.
1930s
Palace restored at a cost of $500,000. Repairs include replacing original wood footings and wood pile caps with concrete beams, correcting areas of settlement. Artists are commissioned under the WPA program to replace the decayed paintings in the rotunda ceiling.
1932
"The International Style: Architecture Since 1922" opens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, introducing American audiences to modernism.
1936
Oakland Bay Bridge opens.
Nazi exhibition Degenerate Art opens in Germany and Austria.
Frank Lloyd Wright designs “Fallingwater.”
1937
Golden Gate Bridge opens.
Picasso creates “Guernica” mural for Paris World Exhibition.
1938
Pilot Amelia Earhart disappears in flight over the Pacific.
Dec. 2, 1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor.
1941-47
U.S. Army uses the Palace of Fine Arts to store trucks and jeeps.
Return to the top of this page.
1957
York Giants move to San Francisco; Brooklyn Dodg ers move to Los Angeles.
Bernard Maybeck dies at the age of 95.
State of California appropriates $2 million for restoration of the Palace on the condition that San Francisco provides an equal amount.
1959
A city bond passes that provides $1.8 million for the Palace. Financier Walter Johnson contributes an additional $2 million.
1964-67
Reconstruction and structural renovations help preserve the Palace. Park is named in honor of Walter S. Johnson, who lived across the street and gave a total of $4 million to restore the Palace.
1975
Ends of the Palace colonnades are completed. Fragments of the original building, including a Weeping Woman and four Dancing Maidens, are auctioned at the official celebration.
Oct. 17, 1989
Loma Prieta earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, levels buildings and starts fires in San Francisco’s Marina District. Marina residents help the fire department pump water from the Palace lagoon to fight the fires.
1990
Committee to Light Up the Palace raises funds for exterior lighting improvements to the rotunda and colonnades.
Return to the top of this page.
2003
Campaign to Restore the Palace of Fine Arts begins fund-raising effort, with a visionary lead gift from the Friend Family Foundation and the Taube Family Foundation.
Fall 2004
Re-roofing of the rotunda completed, restoring the Palace dome to its original color.
Fall 2004 – Fall 2005
Restoration team works on Palace Lagoon.
Fall 2004 – Fall 2006
Restoration team works on eastern lagoon landscaping and lagoon wall.
August 2005
Mayor Gavin Newsom, city leaders, and neighbors gather to make the first cut in the cyclone fence surrounding the Palace lagoon — the first step in the restoration of Palace waters and grounds.
Dec.5, 2005
Palace of Fine Arts added to the National Register of Historic Places
Fall 2006 – Fall 2008
Restoration team works on Rotunda and Colonnades.
Return to the top of this page.
