Ford Building | |
Location | Balboa Park, Palisades Area, San Diego, California |
---|---|
Coordinates | 32°43′34″N117°9′13″W / 32.72611°N 117.15361°W |
Area | 5 acres (2.0 ha) |
Built | 1935 |
Architect | Walter Dorwin Teague |
Architectural style | Moderne |
NRHP reference No. | 73000433 [1] |
SDHL No. | 60 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 26, 1973 |
Designated SDHL | April 7, 1972 [2] |
The Ford Building, a Streamline Moderne structure in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, serves as the home of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The building was built by the Ford Motor Company for the California Pacific International Exposition, which was held in 1935 and 1936. The Ford Motor Company built a total of five exposition buildings for the world's fairs. This is the last remaining structure.
The building's architect was noted American industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague. [3] The building was styled to resemble a V8 engine. Overall, it consists of two different-sized circles in the shape of an "8", and in the courtyard of the larger circle, a large fountain is shaped like the Ford V8 logo. The lights in the courtyard ("Pavilion of Flight") are shaped like valves. Along the interior wall of the outer ring is a mural depicting the history of transportation from the times of hunter-gatherers to 1935. [4] The last panel of the mural was left open for the artist to depict his vision of the future of transportation after 1935, which is still visible today.
Initially, Ford wanted the building to be a 200-foot tower, but with the building near the flight path of arriving planes at San Diego International Airport, it was lowered to 90 feet. [5] The size of the building was also decreased to 60,000 square feet from the initially proposed 113,000 square feet. [5]
The site for the building was initially going to be near the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, but was later decided to be built in the Palisades area of the park. [6] Construction took 11 months to complete. The main exhibit hall was a concrete plaster structure framed by steel. [6]
Ford was the exposition's principal exhibitor and invested $2 million in the 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m2), 296-foot (90 m) diameter building to showcase its vehicles and other forms of transportation. [6] Throughout the exposition, Ford was assembling autos along the outer rings and used the courtyard area to display the latest-model automobiles. The newly assembled vehicles were rolled out the large doors on the west side. Also, a test track was set up down the hill behind the building where visitors could take one of the model autos for a test drive. [7]
By the end of the exhibition, 2.5 million people had toured the building and its exhibits. [8] Ford donated the building to the city of San Diego at the exhibition's completion in November 1935. [8] The city decided to extend the exhibition into 1936 and renamed the building "The Palace of Transportation" to showcase exhibits related to transportation. [9] When the 1936 exhibition concluded, the building was closed and was not available to the public until 1980, when the San Diego Air & Space Museum opened. [10]
With the building empty, the National Guard temporarily stored in it antiaircraft artillery, trucks, and searchlights. [11] During World War II, Balboa Park was renamed to Camp Kidd, to be used for U.S. Navy training, barracks, and hospital wards. The Ford Building was used for training mechanics in aircraft repair and welding from 1941 to 1946. [11] [12] Convair considered using the building for construction of B-24 Liberators until they realized the building was too small to fit the plane's extensive wingspan. [13]
From the late 1940s to the 1960s, the building was used for storage for both the Starlight Civic Opera and San Diego's Park and Recreation department. [13] By this point the building was in poor shape and was recommended by a 1960 commission to be demolished. In the late 1960s, the building was used a temporary studio space for the Chicano artist group Los Toltecas en Azatlán. [14] In 1973, several San Diego groups worked to get the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, saving it from being destroyed. [13]
In 1968, the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department gave Chicano artist Salvador Roberto Torres permission to use the then-abandoned Ford Building as a studio for six months. Torres eventually invited other Chicano artists to the building and they eventually formed Los Toltecas en Azatlán. [14] In 1970, Los Toltecas en Azatlán created a proposal to create El Centro Cultural de la Raza in an effort to keep the building as a space for cultural production. The proposal was eventually denied by the San Diego city government, but Los Toltecas en Azatlán decided to remain and occupy the building until 1971, when the city agreed on another space for the proposed Chicano cultural center within Balboa Park. [15]
During the process of adding the building to the National Register, the San Diego City Council recommended it be used for a new home to the San Diego Aerospace Museum, now known as the San Diego Air & Space Museum. After its earlier location in the former Electric Building was burned down in a fire in 1978, the Ford Building was remodeled to house the museum at a cost of $8 million and opened on June 28, 1980. [13] [16] The museum uses the Ford-themed courtyard for weddings, balls, parties, and other occasions.
The Panama–California Exposition was a world exposition held in San Diego, California, between January 1, 1915, and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first United States port of call for ships traveling north after passing westward through the canal. The fair was held in San Diego's large urban Balboa Park. The park held a second Panama-California exposition in 1935.
San Diego Air & Space Museum is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, which is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. SDASM was established by articles of incorporation on October 12, 1961, and opened to the public on February 15, 1963.
The Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) is a Sacramento, California-based art collective, founded in 1970 by Ricardo Favela, José Montoya and Esteban Villa. It was one of the "most important collective artist groups" in the Chicano art movement in California during the 1970s and the 1980s and continues to be influential into the 21st century.
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Gilbert "Magu" Luján was a Chicano American sculptor, muralist, painter, and educator. He was a founding member of the Chicano collective, Los Four that consisted of artists Carlos Almaraz, Beto de la Rocha, Frank Romero and himself. In 1974, Judithe Hernández became the "fifth member," and only female member of Los Four.
The California Pacific International Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California during May 29, 1935–November 11, 1935 and February 12, 1936–September 9, 1936. The exposition was held in Balboa Park, San Diego's large central urban park, which had also been the site of the earlier Panama-California Exposition in 1915.
Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia, better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is an American poet and activist. His work was influential in the Chicano Movement and is important to the field of Chicano poetry.
The San Diego Model Railroad Museum is a model railroad exhibit in San Diego, California. At 27,000 sq. ft., it is one of the largest such indoor exhibits in North America and the world. The museum is located on the lower level of the Casa de Balboa Building on the Prado in Balboa Park.
The Museum of Us is a museum of anthropology located in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, and is housed in the historic landmark buildings of the California Quadrangle.
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The House of Charm is a historic museum building in Balboa Park, San Diego. It was built for the 1915–16 Panama-California Exposition, and like most buildings from that Exposition it features Mission Revival Style architecture. It acquired its current name, "House of Charm", during the park's second Exposition held in from 1935 to 36. It now houses the San Diego Art Institute and the Mingei International Museum as well as rehearsal space for the Old Globe Theatre. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Salvador Roberto Torres is a Chicano artist and muralist and an early exponent of the Chicano art movement. He was one of the creators of Chicano Park, and led the movement to create its freeway-pillar murals. He was also a founder of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego, California.
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