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| THE MISSOURI BUILDING - This stately structure
obtained its commanding appearance through the presentation to the
corner of the streets of the re-entering angle through which its
portal was approached. Like all edifices of undoubted exterior
beauty, it sacrificed something of inner light and airiness, and the
sombre though ingenious manner of its ornamentation in no wise
lessened the shadows. The lace curtains of the grand salons were
elegant and beautiful; the wall paper was studded with mineral ore,
which the vandals picked remorseless from its settings; and the
accompanying furnishings were rich and abundant. As the avenue that
passed the California mission house reached
the avenue of the Art
Palace, this handsome fabric fronted on the corner from the
northwest, and its upper windows offered a view toward the lake and
toward the Wooded Island that could not be
surpassed. It was from
these rare places of observation that visitors framed those supernal
flights of praise that still resound in the land recounting the
vistas, glories and emotions of Jackson Park in 1893. The architects
who thus brought credit to their State were Gunn & Curtis, of Kansas
City. The material was donated by Missouri manufactures, and the
women of the State produced the interior decorations which have been
so highly extolled. The cost was $45,000, and the area eighty-six
feet square; the dome was seventy feet high. The museum of fruits
and produce was large and admirably arranged. |
