William Templeton Johnson designed these two museums which remain today
 The Palace of Natural History had opened in 1933 |
 The Palace of Fine Arts had opened in 1926 |
The Plaza del Pacifico on the Avenida de Palacios (today and in 1915-16 the Plaza de Panama on El Prado) functioned differently in 1935 from 1915. Dances, drills, public receptions, and sports events crowded the spacious, central plaza during the first exposition. Arcades and steps of the Sacramento Valley Building served as reviewing and band stand. The City issued permits to demolish the building in 1925, to make way for the Fine Arts Gallery, in 1935 called the Palace of Fine Arts and today called the San Diego Museum of Art. The replacement building lacked the contrasts of solids and cavities, exuberant ornament, and inviting loggia of the first.
