You may see a few photos from nearby locations here. Many shoots span multiple spots in the same session.
Palace of Fine Arts
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Where we shoot, on a map
The Palace of Fine Arts is the Beaux-Arts rotunda and colonnade left over from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, sitting on a reflecting lagoon a few blocks from the Presidio. Open 24/7, free, fully public. The most photographed piece of classical architecture in San Francisco and the natural urban counterpart to the coastal frames you get from the rest of the SF cluster.
The Palace of Fine Arts is the architectural anchor of the SF cluster. Every other San Francisco location I shoot is coast — bridge, sand, cliffs, kelp. The Palace is the one stop that gives you classical Roman drama in the middle of the city. Pink-and-peach Corinthian columns, a 162-foot dome, a lagoon with swans, an arcing colonnade that you can walk through. Nothing else in San Francisco looks like this.
The lay of the land
The Palace story I tell most often is the sunrise one. Couple flying in from Chicago, full SF cluster booked over two days, asked if there was a way to get the Palace without the weekend crowds. I told them yes — meet at the south side of the lagoon at 6:15am on a Wednesday in October. They thought I was joking. They came anyway. We had the entire rotunda to ourselves for ninety minutes. The light came up gold on the east-facing arches, the lagoon was glass, the swans were waking up in the reeds, and we shot frames that look like a private Beaux-Arts estate instead of a public city park. By the time the tourist groups started showing up at 8:30, we were done and on our way to coffee in the Marina. Lesson I tell every couple now: the Palace is two completely different locations depending on what time you show up. If the Saturday-afternoon version is what you've seen on Instagram, you've only seen half of it.
Make a trip out of it
Where to stay
Where to eat
Getting here
A few things about Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace was built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the world's fair that celebrated both San Francisco's recovery from the 1906 earthquake and the opening of the Panama Canal.
— Wikipedia / SFGateBernard Maybeck designed the Palace to evoke a Roman ruin contemplating its own decay. The melancholy mood was intentional, partly inspired by classical paintings of the Roman Forum.
— PBS Maybeck biography / Atlas ObscuraThe original 1915 structure was built of plaster, burlap, and wood lath, meant to be torn down after the fair. It became so beloved that the city couldn't bring itself to demolish it. The rotunda you see today is a complete reconstruction in concrete and steel between 1964 and 1974, funded largely by a two-million-dollar donation from philanthropist Walter Johnson plus city bonds.
— Wikipedia / SFGateThe mourning figures on the inside of the rotunda walls are sculpted in Greek-tragedy poses, depicting weeping women contemplating the impermanence of art. Maybeck wanted visitors to feel the melancholy beauty of contemplating loss inside what is technically a celebration palace.
— Atlas Obscura / Curbed SFThe swans on the lagoon have been a fixture since the 1970s. They weren't part of the 1915 original design, but they've become so iconic that they're now part of the image.
— SF Travel / SF Rec & ParksThe Palace has appeared in Vertigo (1958), Time After Time (1979), The Rock (1996), and dozens of other films. The Vertigo scene is the most famous: Kim Novak walks through the colonnade in the dreamlike sequence that anchors the entire film.
— SFGate / film referencesA major restoration from 2008 to 2009 cost approximately twenty-one million dollars and stabilized the concrete structure, repaired the dome, and re-landscaped the lagoon. The Palace you see today is essentially the version Maybeck designed, rendered in materials that will outlast the original by centuries.
— Wikipedia / SF Rec & ParksThe indoor Palace of Fine Arts Theatre is a separate 962-seat venue that originally served as the art gallery for the 1915 fair. It now hosts performances, lectures, and private events — entirely distinct from the outdoor rotunda and colonnade that the rest of the world photographs.
— palaceoffinearts.com
Palace of Fine Arts also appears as Palace of Fine Arts Rotunda, San Francisco Palace, Palace of Fine Arts Park, or The Palace.