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| THE ART PALACE - This building has been
regarded with great critical and popular favor, because the
architect, Mr. C. B. Atwood, of Chicago, has adjusted a roof and dome
to the pure form of the ancient Greek temple. But for the presence
of the Illinois Building, with its more
conspicuous dome, the Art Palace would have dominated the northern
vista of the Fair. This vast Ionic structure, seen here from the
south, is joined with an eastern and western annex, and is built with
a view to permanence, of brick and steel, at a cost of $670,000. The
dimensions are three hundred and twenty by five hundred feet, with
two annexes each one hundred and twenty by two hundred feet. Total
floor area, over five acres; total wall area for picture -hanging,
over one hundred and forty-five thousand square feet. A nave and
transept intersect the building, and are one hundred feet wide and
seventy feet high. Height of dome, one hundred and twenty-five feet;
diameter, sixty feet. A figure of Victory surmounted the dome, but
was removed. The great success of Martiny in decorating the
Agricultural Buiding led to his further engagement at the Art Palace,
and the stairway on the exterior is by him. The lions guarding the
doorways are by Theodore Bauer and A. P. Proctor. Here were gathered
the treasures of twenty nations, with statues by Aube, Bartholdi,
Gelert, Donoghue, Rogers, St. Gaudens, Kretschmar and hundreds of
other sculptors; and paintings by Meissonier, Lenback, Kellar,
Makart, Corrodi, Tadema, Millet, Whistler, Bonnat, Dubufe, Perrault,
and thousands of other artists of universal fame. There were over
one hundred and forty rooms in the Art Palace, and the displays by
France, Germany, Austria, England, and the United States were
exceedingly fine. |
