Commonwealth. Relieved only by the foliage that is finely massed against
them, the great blank spaces of the "Walled City" recall the severer
side of Mediterranean architecture, just as their gorgeously ornate
portals, towers and domes speak of its warmth and color. They are an
architectural feature that has traveled far. The unbroken rampart, born
of the need of defense in immemorial cities on the east and south shores
of the Mediterranean, was carried thence by the Moors to Spain, to go in
turn with the conquerors of the New World, and became a characteristic
of the civic and ecclesiastical architecture of Latin America. Hence it
is not without meaning and reason that this historic architectural form,
the blank exterior of the walled city, has found its finest use in the
far-western city of St. Francis. Quite apart from their frequent
occurrence in the mission architecture of old Alta California, these
simple wall spaces well befit the monumental structure that honors an
achievement so important to all Spanish America as the Panama Canal.

The southern front of the group, facing the Avenue of Palms, has the
aspect of a single palace, opened in the center by the noble Roman arch
of the Tower of Jewels, and indented by the Court of Flowers and the
Court of Palms. (See p. 18, 88.) Seen across the South Gardens, the
whole facade rising from the trees along the wall, is wondrously
beautiful. The wall is seventy feet high, topped with a red-tiled roof.
The pale green domes over the centers of the palaces are Byzantine, a
style much used in the mosques of Islam. The gables are each crowned
with a figure of Victory, sometimes called an "acroterium," from the
architectural name of the tablet on which it stands. The towers on
either side of the entrances to the courts are Italian. The little
towers buttressing the domes on the corners of the palaces at the
extreme right and left of the front, and from there repeated around the
east, west and north walls, are Moorish, with characteristic latticed