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| AGRICULTURAL HALL - The great building which
occupies the entire distance in this photograph, was the work of the
celebrated firm of McKim, Meade & White, of New York, and Philip
Martiny, a pupil of St. Gaudens, who is closely connected with the
firm of sculptors and architects, took charge of the decorations. St.
Gaudens' brazen Diana stands on the summit of the central dome. No
other edifice in the New World has yet presented the wealth of
ornamentation and the general symmetry and beauty which together
distinguished this structure. The splendid details of Corinthian
architecture were enriched with a series of sixty Zodiac-bearers, one
between each of the arched windows; and a series of sixty statues of
Abundance guarded the handsome balustrade. Magnificent groups of
equine and bovine statuary garnished the cornice for eighteen hundred
feet over many sculptured pediments. At the corners the Horoscopes
held their spheres, and the Four Seasons sat in graceful attitudes
extending garlands to the sons of toil. There were also extensive
mural paintings. The main entrance was sixty-four feet wide,
admitting to a rotunda over one hundred feet in diameter on one
hundred and fifty feet high. Along the entire front ran a loggia;
and, just inside, a line of thirteen foreign nations made a brilliant
miscellaneous display. The building was covered with skylights; it
had many galleries, and there was an agricultural assembly hall in
which lectures were given. The striking effects were all on the
exterior, and the eye was lost when it strove to traverse or
comprehend the interior. Cost $618,000. |
