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| THE ELECTRICITY BUILDING - This structure,
seen from the northeast, presented a charming view to the visitor,
either from the waters of the lagoon or the Wooded Island. However attractive the
Electricity appeared to the visitor, it was, perhaps, still more
beautiful during the period of its erection, when its sharp
arch-holders were net-worked against the sky. The architects,
Messrs. Van Brunt & Howe, of Kansas City, were given a site that
fronted on the MacMonnies Fountain at the south, and the Wooded
Island at the north. The area was six hundred by three hundred and
forty-five feet, making it - large as it here seems (and it contained
over five acres) - the smallest of the twelve major structures. The
architects, displaying the independence of the West, abandoned the
classic forms and centered their attention on the middle lines of the
building. With a noble treatment of these great spaces, they
endeavored to satisfy the eye at the corners with insufficient
cupolas and ornaments that lacked in dimension. At the time of
building, it was held that the projected nocturnal illuminations
compelled this sacrifice of beauty, but there were no extraordinary
lightings of this edifice on the exterior. On the evenings during
which the interior was alight and the machinery moving, these floors
offered the rarest entertainment of the Exposition, with wonders too
numerous to name. The exhibitory space covered eight acres of area,
and the cost was $410,000. |
