Palace of Fine Arts 2022 $26.95 Stamps — Priority Mail Express Rate (Not a Forever Stamp)

Please note: this is a $26.95 Priority Mail Express denominated stamp, not a Forever Stamp.

A building that was meant to fall down

The Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 put up a great many impressive structures, and their designer intended them to decay gracefully into something like Roman ruins by the time the fair closed — his view being that every great city ought to have ruins of its own.

One of them is still standing, rebuilt and renovated more than once: Bernard Maybeck's Palace of Fine Arts.

What it looks like

An open rotunda 162 feet high, with a lagoon on one side and an exhibition hall on the other. The columns and archways would not be out of place in a fantasy film, which is presumably why it has turned up in several, and it remains in demand as a venue for public and private events.

What it has held

Paintings and other artwork during the exposition itself. In the decades after: World War II military vehicles, limousines for UN statesmen, and a good deal else. Maybeck designed it as a quiet counterweight to the noise of the fair, and it still does that for the people who visit.

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