May 10, 2015

1569 UNITED STATES (California) - Balboa Park in San Diego

San Diego - Casa de Balboa beyond the Reflection Pool

Named for the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Balboa Park is a 490 ha urban cultural park in San Diego, not far for the border with Mexico. In addition to open space areas, natural vegetation zones, green belts, gardens, and walking paths, it contains museums, several theaters, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Placed in reserve in 1835, the park's site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. It hosted the 1915-1916 Panama–California Exposition and 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition, both of which left architectural landmarks.

The Casa de Balboa, constructed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, has gone through many changes of names during the course of its history... Commerce and Industries Building, Canadian Building, Museum of Natural History, Palace of Better Housing, Electric Building. As first planned, the Domestic Liberal Arts Building, the name of Winslow's original building, had much going for it. While not being derived from buildings in Mexico, it was Spanish Renaissance in style. Walls and arcades were plain and simple with the ornament being concentrated on a large concave central entrance flanked by two towers with open belfries. In 1978 the building burned down, but was reconstructed. Now, it houses the Museum of San Diego History and Research Library, Model railroad Museum, and the Museum of Photographic Arts.

About the stamps
The first two stamps, depicting an American Toleware (5c) and a Tiffany Lamp (1c), are part of the definitives series American Design (2002-2007), about which I wrote here. The last stamp, dedicated to Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970), is part of the series Music Icons, about which I wrote here.

References
Balboa Park (San Diego) - Wikipedia
History of the Casa de Balboa Building in Balboa Park, by Richard Amero - San Diego History Center official website

Sender: Denise 
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 29.03.2014

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