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| THE WOMAN'S BUILDING - Great interest attached to
the
fact that Congress authorized a "Board of Lady Managers'' and gave
them a Woman's Building. The erection of this novel structure was
entrusted to Miss Sophia Hayden, architect, of Boston. It is
considered noteworthy that the female sex, celebrated for its love of
ornament, placed in Jackson Park the plainest of its buildings. The
type is called Italian Renaissance, and the ungainly central feature
is a skylight which, however, produced an interior effect of uncommon
beauty and utility. The grand hall of this edifice was a popular
meeting-place, and the whole fabric was thronged with prominent
people. The loggias were attractive and impressive, and commanded
fine views. There were cafes at each end of the roof, covered with
Oriental awnings. The statuary on the building was modeled by Miss
Alice Rideout, of California, and represented Sacrifice, Charity,
Virtue and Wisdom. One of the paintings herein exhibited was the work
of the lamented Marie Bashkirtseff; and the wife of MacMonnies, who
made the chief fountain, was one of the principal interior decorators.
The last nail was a golden one, presented to Mrs. Potter Palmer,
President of the Board of Lady Managers, by the ladies of Montana, and
it was driven in May, with a hammer presented by the ladies of
Nebraska. The golden nail, when drawn, served as the principal piece
of a brooch, which became the property of Mrs. Palmer, who had wielded
the hammer. Dimensions of the Woman's Building, one hundred and
ninety-nine by three hundred and eighty-eight feet, sixty feet or two
stories high. Cost, $138,000.
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