Existing comment:
Bandstand History:
The Music Concourse has been the cultural center of Golden Gate Park since nearly the park's inception in 1871. The current bandstand is the third location in Golden Gate Park (originally at Conservatory Valley, 1882, and later at the site of the present-day tennis courts, 1888). The bandstand has an extensive history of accommodating free concerts within the park as well as the Golden Gate Park band that has regularly played on Sundays since September of 1882.
The general arrangement of the Music Concourse is based upon Michael O'Shaughnessy's design of the Grand Court for the California Midwinter Exposition of 1894. Remnants of the Midwinter Exposition can still be seen today; the dome-topped bollards line the upper promenade (some of these are original) and the concourse stairways, rails, tunnels, and plantings have been rehabilitated over time since the Midwinter Fair. Wooden benches beneath a Bosque of pollarded sycamore and elm trees also provide a sheltering canopy in summer months as they have since the Temple of Music's construction.
The first structure to be built on the Music Concourse after the fair was the Spreckels Temple of Music (1900), also known as the bandstand, which was built with funds donated by the sugar magnate Claus Spreckels.
The Music Concourse was planned with terraces for seating around the perimeter for an anticipated capacity of 20,000. Its depressed elevation was intended to provide protection from summer winds. The Spreckels Temple of Music and the MH de Young Museum, which remained from the 1894 fair, were originally the only structures in the Music Concourse area. Other structures were added later such as the California Academy of Sciences in 1916 and the central Rideout Fountain in 1924. |