By the closing of the Exposition, on December 4 of the same year, a movement to preserve the Palace was already under way; signatures and money were gathered from the Fine Arts League. For a while the Palace housed a continuous art exhibit, and when the Depression came, W.P.A. artists were commissioned to replace the deteriorated murals on the ceiling of the rotunda.  Click the photo to see a QuickTimeVR movie of this 1919 panorama. (322k)   The palace was in ruins by the 1960's. Click for larger view.   But as time went by, a strange new life evolved for the exhibition hall. In 1934, eighteen lighted tennis courts were installed and remained there for eight years. During this period, the Palace, without proper maintenance and as a result of vandalism, was gradually crumbling into a genuine ruin. Then during World War II it was requisitioned by the Army for storage of trucks and jeeps. At the end of the war, when the United Nations was created in San Francisco, limousines used by the world's statesmen came from a motor pool there. Two years after the war's end, the Palace was returned by the Army to the city. By now it had been declared unsafe for public use. Then began a forceful attempt to preserve it as it was -- designed as a ruin, it should remain one. But the building was not strong enough to last. When Maybeck's opinion was solicited, he had this to say: European art treasures were brought to the palace for safe keeping during WWI. Click for a larger view.     "I think the main building should be torn down and redwoods planted around--completely around -- the rotunda. Redwoods grow fast, you know. And as they grow, the columns of the rotunda would slowly crumble, at approximately the same speed. Then I would like to design an altar, with the figure of a maiden praying, to install in that grove of redwoods. I should like my Palace to die behind those great trees of its own accord, and become its own cemetery." But before his death (at age ninety-five, in 1957) there was again a concerted movement to save the Palace, a movement which he fully supported. In a telegram sent by Maybeck to Governor Knight on July 12,1957, he said: "The Palace of Fine Arts is probably the last of the traditional pieces of architecture to survive the modern age. Because of its beauty it has become a tourist attraction for the State of California. Kindly sign the bill for its restoration and I will be thankful. I have the honor to remain, Very truly yours, Dr. Bernard R. Maybeck, Architect."     © 1998, The Exploratorium