The City of Domes: a walk with an architect about the courts and palaces of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition

The City of Domes by John D. Barry is a vivid exploration of the architectural, artistic, and cultural grandeur of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) held in San Francisco in 1915. The exposition was a celebration of the completion of the Panama Canal and showcased the latest achievements in art, architecture, and engineering. Barry, a writer and observer of architecture, takes the reader on a guided tour through the courts and palaces of the exposition, focusing on the design and artistic details that made the event a landmark in early 20th-century world's fairs. The book begins with a historical account of the exposition's planning and growth, detailing how the city of San Francisco transformed itself to host this monumental event just nine years after the devastating earthquake of 1906. Barry discusses the monumental scale of the architectural undertaking, which was influenced by classical and Beaux-Arts styles. Key buildings, including the Palace of Fine Arts and the Tower of Jewels, are described in detail, with an emphasis on their symbolic significance and their architectural harmony within the exposition's layout.