Balboa Park (NHL) 1915-1935
Current redevelopment plans for Balboa Park will desecrate and change forever the 1915 National Historic Landmark (NHL). The current proposal is extremely destructive and would forever alter the iconic entry, Cabrillo Bridge and the historic landscape. This NHL, by architect Bertrum Goodhue with its spectacular Spanish Colonial architecture and landscapes would be transformed into an unmemorable suburban office park appearance with a freeway-like road running through it. The project includes a two-lane highway and bridge attached to the Cabrillo Bridge, cutting into, through and around the park’s iconic entrance; the removal of fully grown specimens of graceful canopied trees between the plaza and the palisades to be replaced with soldier rows of palm trees, a three-story parking structure and the construction of concrete retaining walls as high as 24-feet and massive landfills in Palm and Cabrillo canyons. This new road will bisect the central mesa with a massive ditch and destroy the setting of the historic 1935 Alcazar Gardens. All this in one of the most majestic urban parks in America. If this project were to be constructed, Balboa Park would be unrecognizable and would likely lose its status as a world-renowned architectural site.
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