*click to enlarge*

A monumental structure originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.

It is the only structure from the Exposition that survives on site. 

The most prominent building of the complex is a 162 feet high open rotunda.

It is enclosed by a lagoon on one side, and is neighboring a large, curved exhibition center on the other side, which is separated from the lagoon by colonnades.

It was conceived to evoke a decaying ruin of ancient Rome.

Here it is, in all it’s beauty under cloudy San Francisco skies.