Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-11-10
THs CEsrENsIAL nUaLDING.

THIS CENTENNIAL BUiLDING.
so'''''A'.s As.1: :..;. 8: o.'.s a.'..' ..1
A Acorrespcudent OF ihe Rn0AlNl Com.
mercial Advertiser Who W0nt'Un IL
Centennial excursion. gives the fol-
lowing description of the buildings
erected for the Exposition:
At fret sight 1t is difficult to realize
the amazing extent OF the premises.
The Main Building" as 1t is call, d, il
in the form Of parallelogram, 1876
feet long by aga feet wide, and il en-.
closes q space equivalent 10 more than
twenty acres. The long lines are
broken ct tho centre by projections
ZIG feet in length at the end OF the
building Now to say that a building
10 1876 feet long and AGA feet wide, is
to convey to the majority Of readers
but faint idea of It's size. Bit it may
help readers TO fern an adequate con-
ception Of its immensely, II they take
into mind any well-shaped twenty
acre lot or field that they happen 10
remember, and fancy 1t all inclosed
under one root, and then they will be.
gin to understand the size ot the won
derful building about which they are
now reading. And a wonderful
building 1t truly Is, in magnitude,
airy-like appearance and rApidity Of
construction like creation of the
Genie OF the Wonderful Lamp. A
printed description furnished to each
guest states that the towers which
rise at each corner Of the building are
75 feet in height. In order to obtain
q central feature. the roof for lS4
sqnare feet at the centre has been
raised above the surrounding portion,
and four towers as feet square, rising
TO l20 feet high, are introduced into
the corners of this elevated root. This
gives ventilation as we'll as ornament
The main building has 936,008 equare
feet OF surface, or nearly 2l1Is acres
The ground plan shows central av.
enue. 100 feet in width and 1882 feet
in length, the longest avenue of that
width ever introduced into an exhibit
ton building. On either side OF this
is another avenue OF equal length and
100 feet wide. Between the central
and side avenues sre aislcs 4S feet
wide, and on the outer sides of the
building sMaller aisles "a feet wide.
To break the great length of the roof
lincs three transepts have been intro
duced OF the same widths and In the
came relative positions to each other
as the longitudinal avenues. These
cross the building. and are 4l6 feet In
length. The intersections OF these
various avenues make at the centre Of
tho building nine spaces, free from
supports, which are l00 TO l20 feet
square, aud aggregate 4l6 feet square.
The general elevation of the roofs OF
all these avenues varies from 45 to 20
feet.
Now, when the visitors had been
taken through the length OF the main
building, they were next escorted
right straight along In the same line
500 feet west to the machinery build
ing, which is a structure of much the
same character and appearance, and
may In TACT be regarded as but an ex-
teDslon OF the main building. II il,
or 10 to be, very nearly as large as the
other. For although originally de-
signedfo have q length OF only l,4O2
feet, and width Of about 360 feet,
with an insignificant extension of 20S
by 2l0 feet, the whole TO cover PAL
try area of abont thirteen acres, such
has been the unexpected demand for
exhibition space that the Centen-
nial officers are seriously considering
the feasibility aud propriety Of go
adding 10 the dimensions of the Ma
chinery building as 10 make II almost
equal In extent to The main building
As they stand now, however, these
two structures together psesent Q
frontage of 3S2a feet from end to end
upon the principal avenue OF the Ex-
hibition gronnds. Ii the reader will
think OF this length as making a
distance of three-iifths of q mile, he
will not bo very far out OF the way.