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

The elegance of life in the old colonial capital of Mexico is reflected in the town houses built by the Dons and some of which still survive in Mexico City. The House of the Counts of Heras, of faded red color and with chipped ornamentation, shown below, was suggested in the design of the exposition building, above, which also was crowned by the tower inspired by the Palace of Monterey. While the House of the Counts of Heras has been preserved by the Mexican government, many other of the gracious town houses, with their inner courtyards, have vanished. The countryside of Mexico is dotted with ruined and deserted haciendas, victims of revolution. Gone, too, though before time and change, is the building in the park which recalled this past.