From the start it was realized that, vast as the Exposition was to be,
representing styles of architecture almost sensationally different, it
must nevertheless suggest that it was all of a piece. The relation of
San Francisco to the Orient provided the clue. It was fitting that on
the shores of San Francisco Bay, where ships to and from the Orient were
continually plying, there should rise an Oriental city. The idea had a
special appeal in providing a reason for extensive color effects. The
bay, in spite of the California sunshine, somewhat bleak, needed to be
helped out with color. The use of color by the Orientals had abundantly
justified itself as an integral part of architecture. The Greeks and the
Romans had accepted it and applied it even in their statuary. It was,
moreover, associated with those Spanish and Mexican buildings
characteristic of the early days of California history.