How the architecture of the Panama-California Exposition,
which influenced the appearance of all California, flowed from designs
of famed buildings in historic Spain, Mexico and Italy

Fr. Junípero Serra was well-acquainted with the Mexican town of Queretaro which lay on the edge of the Sierra Gorda where he spent so many years before being assigned to establish the missions of California. A town with buildings and streets of pink blocks, it is known for its patios with double arcades. At lower right is the patio of what once was the Convent of San Augustine, later converted to government use. The same double arcades appeared in the patio of the Exposition's Southern California Counties Building, shown at [top], and again between the flanking entrance pavilions [middle] of the large building along the north side of the Prado.