The Palace of Horticulture is characterized by that combination of Eastern and Western architectural motives which is so noticeable throughout the buildings. The dome is Byzantine, while the rest of the building is of Renaissance, or modern, French architecture. The dome considered alone is an almost perfect bit of design, beautifully proportioned and finely simple. The rest of the building is in general over-decorated, the portals especially being heavily loaded down with meaningless ornament. Apologists for the building say that the profuse ornateness rightly suggests the richness of California's horticulture. Perhaps the best view of the dome is from the east end of the Avenue of the Nations, near the Denmark building, because from there one can see it unobstructed, escaping the disturbing effect of the portals and their spires. The Palace of Horticulture was designed by Bakewell and Brown of San Francisco.

Sculpture. All of the sculpture here is purely decorative. The frieze at the base of each spire, consisting of heavy female figures modeled in pairs, is by E. L. Boutier. The ornamental Caryatides of the porches are by John Bateman.