Municipal Gym Installations Near Start Date

By Robert Thiele, Project Architect

After years of planning, production has begun to rebuild the Municipal Gym’s original decorative elements, including a bas-relief mural, marquee, and ornamentation.

Construction will begin in September to prepare the building structure to receive the 14-by-22-foot cold-cast bronze mural and the marquee above the building’s entrance. The mural depicts a 1930s building construction site; the marquee symbolizes the gears of industry. Those two elements,  along with decorative ornamentation, will be cast in glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC).

The marquee and the mural above were highlights of what was the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries at the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition. The building was constructed in permanent materials but the decorative elements were not, and they were removed soon after the expo closed.

We take you inside the sculptural workshop of Bellagio Precast to better understand the process of building the marquee and mural.   

First, a full-size model of the marquee must be coated with latex rubber in order to create a mold into which the GFRC compound will be poured. The rubber is applied to the original sculpture in successive coats, using different colors so that the thickness of each layer can be calibrated.

Next, the latex layers are covered with two layers of fiberglass to provide structural support for the mold. The rubber-fiberglass coatings are then raised and peeled away from the sculptural model.

Bellagio Precast’s Michael Matson shows off the rubber mold ready for reinforcing fiberglass to support the glass-fiber reinforced concrete copy for the building. Photo: C100.

The rubber mold, in its fiberglass shell, is flipped over so that the final cast may begin. The GFRC is carefully layered into the mold until a quarter-inch  thickness is achieved.

At this point, a stainless-steel frame, which has been fabricated separately, is slipped into the GFRC form and integrated into the marquee casting.

After all the GFRC compound has been poured and the casting has sufficiently hardened, the mold is peeled away and the marquee is ready to install.

The cold cast bronze mural involves a similar process.The original sculptural elements are arrayed on a 14-by-22-foot work table so that a latex-and-fiberglass mold can be made, after which the mold is used to cast the finished mural in two pieces.

To create the bronze surface of the mural, the first layers of buildup in the rubber mold are bronze filings in epoxy, similar to the technique used to cast the two grizzly bear statues on the Auto Museum across the plaza. The bronze coats inside the mold are then covered with GFRC, including the insertion of steel elements for the mural’s attachment to the building.

In addition to these sculptural elements, the gym project reproduces decorative elements of the curving marquee and around the mural. Restoration also includes the original Art Deco building signage above the bas-relief and the cleaning and restoration of the terrazzo-like floor at the building entrance.

Installation should be complete by Thanksgiving, according to the latest work calendar.

This fall, the Balboa Park Committee of 100 will also install new historic sign markers and repair up to eight streetlights around the plaza.

Since 2015, C100’s work in the Palisades has helped focus revitalization efforts in the immediate vicinity. In 2021, C100 donors helped pay to paint the Muni Gym in its original colors. They also underwrote the cost of painting the Comic-Con Museum (originally the Federal Building). The city separately paid to repaint the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater (originally the Palisades Building) and converted half the Palisades plaza to pedestrian-only space.

The Palisades area’s revitalization includes several further initiatives in the works:

• Restore and reopen Starlight Bowl (the city is negotiating with the Save Starlight nonprofit toward a long-term lease).

• Upgrade building systems in the San Diego Air & Space Museum (the 1935 Ford Building).

• Restore the deteriorating Balboa Park Club (the 1915 New Mexico Building, remodeled for the 1935-36 expo).

• Design a replacement for the 1935 “Firestone

• Singing Fountains” in the Palisades plaza

• Modernize the Municipal Gym’s interior.

• Explore further activation of the Palisades area with more food, beverage and entertainment offerings.

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  Bellagio Precast’s Kevin Matson, left, and Chuck McArthur, project manager for Barnhart-Reese Construction, discuss the elements that will make up the recreated bronze-like bas relief that decorated what is now the Municipal Gym. Photo: C100.