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• 1 2021-11-12T08:39:25-08:00 Design and Construction of the “Showplace of the Marine Corps” 14 plain 2022-03-16T12:22:18-07:00 New York architect Bertram Goodhue was selected to design the Marine base. Goodhue utilized the same Spanish Colonial Revival style for the base as the Panama-California Exposition buildings at Balboa Park, which he also designed. The architectural style was favored by Congressman William Kettner and also by Brigadier General Joseph Pendleton, who called Goodhue’s design “an inspiration on the part of the architect.” Pendleton preached that the base “should and will be the show place of the United States Marine Corps when it is finished.” Pendleton directly influenced the design, even down to the barracks. He also envisioned the Marine base as a lasting home for San Diego’s Marines. In a letter to the Commandant, Major General John A. Lejeune, Pendleton wrote, “In studying these plans and considering their development, we must also remember that these buildings are to be and are not only of a permanent character, but what one almost may say, an eternal character. They are building, not for decades, but for centuries.”
  
  
  
  Preparing the land for construction required more than two years of dredging and filling. A ground-breaking ceremony was held on 15 March 1919, celebrating the start of the construction of the installation’s first buildings. The construction initiated one of the largest projects ever authorized for the Marine Corps at the time, at an estimated cost of four to five million dollars.