THE THEATER AND THE CASA DEL PRADO nearby are historic reconstructions of the Varied Industries and Food Products Building from the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.
The first Balboa Park replacement of a 1915 Exposition building, this structure was completed in 1971 with public bond funding. The ornamentation decorating the original building was replicated for the new building with the aid of private donations.
The Spanish Colonial Baroque building features extravagantly garlanded columns, a quatrefoil window, and an elaborate gable on the east facade. Twin bell towers, their domes tiled in blue and yellow, flank the facade, giving the structure elaborate ornamentation reminiscent of a Spanish Colonial church.
Built at a cost of $98,342.41 in 1915, this was the largest of the original temporary exposition buildings. Architect Carleton M. Winslow was responsible for the design, with sculptural details executed by H. R. Schmohl, after Winslow’s sketches. It consisted of north and south wings joined by an extension of the north wing. The floor plan took the shape of a right angle. The north wing—the food products section during the 1915 exposition—is now the theater and boasts a sumptuously decorated entrance. Today, the theater is used for performances by youth musical and dance groups and the nation’s oldest children’s theater program.
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