The Palace of Horticulture is characterized by that combination of
Eastern and Western architectural motives which is so noticeable
throughout the buildings. The dome is Byzantine, while the rest of the
building is of Renaissance, or modern, French architecture. The dome
considered alone is an almost perfect bit of design, beautifully
proportioned and finely simple. The rest of the building is in general
over-decorated, the portals especially being heavily loaded down with
meaningless ornament. Apologists for the building say that the profuse
ornateness rightly suggests the richness of California's horticulture.
Perhaps the best view of the dome is from the east end of the Avenue of
the Nations, near the Denmark building, because from there one can see
it unobstructed, escaping the disturbing effect of the portals and their
spires. The Palace of Horticulture was designed by Bakewell and Brown of
San Francisco.
Sculpture. All of the sculpture here is purely decorative. The frieze at
the base of each spire, consisting of heavy female figures modeled in
pairs, is by E. L. Boutier. The ornamental Caryatides of the porches are
by John Bateman.