San Diego’s Ford Building was constructed in 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition, and housed the Ford Motor Company’s industrial and automotive display. Ford was the largest exhibitor at the exposition and signed on three months before opening day, May 29, 1935. Henry Ford invested $2 million to build a showcase for Ford Motor Company’s 1935 automotive line and the V-8 engine. Construction began on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week schedule and the building was completed in record time. The large exhibit building was designed by the noted industrial designer, Walter Dorwin Teague. The building he designed was a masterpiece of “Streamline Moderne” architecture. This innovative design made the Ford structure stand out at the exposition because the rest of the exposition was designed in Spanish Renaissance architectural design. The Ford building became the centerpiece of the 1935-36 exposition.

On opening day of the California Pacific International Exposition, May 29, 1935, the white concrete masterpiece of modern design opened. The entrance took people to the “Court of the Pacific Nations” with two forty-foot-high murals, “the Spirit of Asia” and “the Spirit of America.” The building featured large industrial exhibits that took visitors through the process of making a V-8 Ford engine. Especially popular was the exhibit where a Ford worker would assemble and disassemble a Ford V-8. Outside of the building was located the Ford Music Bowl, a standard at all Ford exhibits. Here, visitors could listen to free concerts throughout the 1935-1936 exposition.

One of the major highlights of the exposition was the Ford “Roads of the Pacific.” Visitors could take a tour around different Pacific roads in a new Ford V-8 model. Young Ford-trained drivers drove and educated attendees about the virtues of the new Ford cars and the history of the Pacific roads. Over 4.8 million people visited the California Pacific International Exposition with a reported 2.5 million people visiting the Ford exhibit. The “Roads of the Pacific” drew an estimated 480,000 visitors in 1935.

The Exposition was extended through 1936, but the Ford exhibit closed at the end of 1935, and the building was renamed the "Palace of Transportation." While not as successful as the Ford exhibit, it still remained a popular attraction in 1936.

After the Exposition closed in 1936, the Ford Building closed to the general public until the opening of the San Diego Aerospace Historical Center opened in 1980. But during the intervening 44 years, the building served many other purposes.

The 251^st Coast Artillery used the building as a technical school and stored anti-aircraft guns, trucks, and searchlights there until they were drafted to Hawaii in 1940. The following year, the San Diego Vocational School set up an airplane construction school in the building to train men and women as aircraft workers during World War II. The Civil Air Patrol held night school there for several years, too, before moving out in 1946.

From 1949 to 1959, the building was used by the San Diego Vocational High School and Junior College as an aircraft mechanics school. Night and day classes included actual work on airplanes and engines. Students received an aircraft mechanic’s license after passing the two and half year course.

After the building survived a recommendation for demolition in 1959, the City Parks and Recreation Department moved into the basement; the Starlight Opera occupied the main floor; and the rotunda was used by Artistas del Barrio for cultural activities.

In 1971, 1972, and 1973, the San Diego Aerospace Museum Board of Directors sought approval from voters for bond money to restore the building, but failed. However, the Ford Building was designated as an historic structure on April 26, 1973 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In September 1977, the city received a federal grant for the complete renovation of the building, which had significantly deteriorated following years of neglect. After the old Aerospace Museum burned down in 1978, the city added another $300,000 to complete the restoration and re-designated the Ford Building as the Aerospace Historical Center. It proudly reopened to the public on June 28, 1980 as the San Diego Aerospace Museum and International Aerospace Hall of Fame.

Out of the five exposition buildings the Ford Motor Company built during the 1930s (Dearborn, Michigan; San Diego, California; Dallas, Texas; New York City, New York; and San Francisco, California) the City of San Diego’s Ford building is the only one still in existence.The collection contains items reflecting the history of the San Diego Ford Building, including many articles on its history, news clippings, proposals, correspondence, and photocopies of photographs. 

Link to images on Flickr

Link to the Descriptive Finding Guide.