The palace demolition, 1964. Click for larger view.   In the meantime, from 1947 on, the hall continued to be put to various uses: as a city Park Department warehouse; as a telephone book distribution center; as a flag and tent storage depot; and even as temporary Fire Department headquarters. For several years Assemblyman Caspar Weinberger, supported by other prominent San Franciscans, had patiently pushed the cause of the Palace. Finally, between 1957 and 1959, his efforts were rewarded. Funds from the California State Legislature, the City, and the Palace of Fine Arts League, supplemented by a most generous $2,000,000 donation (and later an additional donation of approximately $2,500,000) from Walter S. Johnson, as well as large contributions from other concerned residents of the city, saved the life of the Palace. By 1962 a plan for its restoration in concrete had been approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Half demolished dome. Click for larger view. The work of demolition and reconstruction began in 1964. The rotunda and the columns were toppled to the ground. Nothing was left but the steel structure of the gallery itself. Preparation for rebuilding, at a cost ten times the original and on a permanent basis, was under way.   © 1998, The Exploratorium