The City of Domes | Page 6

stipulated that in the
conduct of the work there should be no patronage. With the directors he
entered into an a agreement that all appointments should be made for
merit alone.

Choosing the Site

The choice of site was difficult. The sites most favored were Lake
Merced, Golden Gate Park and Harbor View. Lake Merced was
opposed as inaccessible for the transportation both of building
materials and of people, and, through its inland position, as an unwise
choice for an Exposition on the Pacific Coast, in its nature supposed to
be maritime. The use of the park, it was argued, would desecrate the
peoples recreation ground and entail a heavy cost in leveling and in
restoring.
Harbor View and the Presidio had several advantages. It was level. It
was within two miles or walking distance of nearly half the city's
inhabitants. It stood on the bay, close to the Golden Gate, facing one of
the most beautiful harbors in the world, looking across to Mount
Tamalpias and backed by the highest San Francisco hills. Of all the
proposed sites, it was the most convenient for landing material by water,
for arranging the buildings and for maintaining sanitary conditions.
After a somewhat bitter public controversy the Exposition directors, in
July, 1911, announced a decision. It caused general surprise. There
should be three sites: Harbor View and a strip of the adjoining Presidio,
Golden Gate Park and Lincoln Park, connected by a boulevard,
specially constructed to skirt the bay from the ferry to the ocean.
That plan proved to be somewhat romantic. The boulevard alone, it was
estimated, would cost eighteen million dollars.

Harris D. H. Connick, the assistant city engineer was called on as a
representative of the Board of Public Works, and asked to make a
preliminary survey of Harbor View. He showed that, of the proposed
sites, Harbor View would be the most economical. The cost of
transporting lumber would be greatly reduced by having it all come
through the Golden Gate and deposited on the Harbor View docks. The
expense of filling in the small ponds there would be slight in
comparison with the expense of leveling the ground at the park.
A few weeks later Harbor View and the Presidia was definitely decided
on as the site, and the only site.
For months agents had been at work securing options on leases of
property in Harbor View, covering a little more than three hundred
acres, the leases to run into December 1915. Reasonable terms were
offered and in one instance only was there resort to condemnation. The
suit that followed forced the property owner, who had refused fifteen
hundred dollars, to take nine hundred dollars. President Moore was
tempted to pay the fifteen hundred dollars, but he decided that this
course would only encourage other property owners to be extortionate.
Some trouble was experienced with the Vanderbilt properties, part of
which happened to be under water. After considerable negotiating and
appeals to the public spirit of the owners, it was adjusted. About seven
hundred thousand dollars was paid for leases and about three hundred
thousand dollars for property bought outright.

The Director of Works

While President Moore was looking for the man he wanted to appoint
as head of the board of construction, Harris D. H. Connick called to
suggest and to recommend another man. Later the president offered
Connick the position as director of works.
Connick had exactly the qualifications needed: experience, youth,
energy, skill and executive ability. He hesitated for the reason that he

happened to be engaged in public work that he wished to finish. But he
was made to see that the new work was more important. He removed
all the buildings at Harbor View, about 150, and he filled in the ponds,
using two million cubic yards of mud and sand, and building an
elaborate system of sewers. The filling in took about six months. On
the last day mules were at work on the new land. And within a year the
ground work and the underground work was finished.

The Architects

Meanwhile, President Moore asked for a meeting of the San Francisco
Chapter of
the American Institute of Architects, with more than 250 members. He
explained that his purpose was to have them, select twelve
representatives from whom he should himself appoint five to act as an
architectural board. When the board was formed with Willis Polk at its
head, it included John Galen Howard, Albert Pissis, William Curlett,
and Clarence R. Ward. This board was dissolved and an executive
council composed of Polk, Ward and W. B. Faville was put in charge.
Later it gave way to a commission consisting of W. B. Faville, Arthur
Brown, George W. Kelham, Louis Christian Mullgardt, and Clarence R.
Ward,