Tuesday, 18 November 2014

History - The Horticultural Building, Chicago 1893 #3

 World's Columbian Exposition - Chicago 1893

Third part of the story...


Main structure and dome of the Horticulture Building.
The admirable features of the Horticultural Building's architecture to be considered were lost to the eye of many for the double reason that its chief attractions were near the center and were to an extent lost in a view of the structure as a whole, and that the space between the Horticulture Building and the West Lagoon was but the width of a roadway and prevented the observer from going a sufficient distance away from the structure to perceive its idea in its entirety. Practically, the only proper point of appreciative observation of the Horticulture Building was on then Wooded Island, and from this point, because of the intevening shrubbery, very few photographs were taken. In the accompanying illustration one of these views is reproduced and shows the vast dome of the edifice with all the architectural affects supporting it. They appear, certainly, to advantage under present circumstances.
 

The great symmetry of the whole appeals to the eye event of those untrained to the criticism of architectural effects. Approaching its main portal only by the parallel highway, many thousands who entered the great structure failed to realize the beauty of its facade. Here just what that beauty was is indicated. Taken alone, with the connecting curtains and the great end structures swept away, the Horticulture Building might haver become even more noted than it did as one of the architectural marvels of the Fair and one fully up to the standard of the great works beyond it. It was pleasant thing to look upon.
The City of Palaces Album, 1893.


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