Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-03-05
A SIGHT FOR STRANGERS.
II. A. Chapman's Elegant Dry Goods
Store ON wisconsin Street.

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Store ON wisconsin Street.
If thing of beauty is JOY forever,
repeated illusions to it can but serve to
afford entertainment to the minds of the
chosen multitude that worship at Miner
vas shrine A really practical and useful
aggregation of things beautiful, such as
are comprised in the dry goods store of
T. A. Chapman & Co., commends itself
to the consideration and appreciation of
all. The store is chiefly remarkable for
three highly important attributes or
fundamental principles in architecture
light, ventilation and beauty. That a
palace should be built for Milwaukee
and Wisconsin shopping people is not
remarkable; but that all the laws of
hygiene and peTsonallcomfor should have
been Incorporated in its construction is
worthy of note. Mr.. Chapman has given
personal attention to all details in the
construction of his establishment. He
has combined taste with utility, and has
made art subservient to practical use.
There is no tinsel in part or parcel, but
all is genuine and no less than what is
shown on the face.
The beautiful light of day, which new
er grows old or out of style, is welcome
and constant guest in these halls. From
morn till dewy eve" It lends garment
to beautiful shapes, columns and coEnices.
The skylight overhead is so feet iong, 80
feet in width and so feet above the floor,
and its arrangement recalls the clerestory
opening which as Ferguson thinks let
e a, IL,
Grecian temples. There are seven tons
of hammered glass three quarters Of an
inch in thickness and suspended in mid
air and the incline of the frame is the
result of accurate scientific calculation.
As it is now angled the suns rays at
high noon during the longest day in
summer cannot touch the floor beneath.
The suns reflected beams are to mellow
and glorify the room, to illuminate the
frescoing, to bring into relief the strength
and durability of the supporting columns,
to make clear the long and charming
vista northwood to Wisconsin street. but
they are not to fall upon the delicate
fabrics exposed upon the counters.
The subject of ventilation has been
embraced with good common sense. In
the center of the store arises chimney
"a feet in circumference and rs feet in
height, having two ire-places, each 40
inches wide. Other fre-places, consuming
both wood and coal, dispensing good
cheer and furnishing ventilation, are
sprinkled here and there But this
mammoth chimney has another purpose.
" thin it is huge shaft thirty inches at
least in diameter, which is heated by
steam, the heating power being within
sixteen feet of the top of the chimney.
Perhaps the designers motive in
thus making. the chimney so con-
splcuous is to thrust into prominence the
idea that utility and beauty, comfort
and comeliness,S can go hand in hand.
Hardwood I'd coal are burned exclusive
IL. Mr.. Chapman had the heating
capacity put ten or fifteen feet from the
top Of the chimney, and not at the base,
which adds materially to the ventilating
power of the fiue
The whole place is of especial interest
to visitors spending a day in town. 1t
is we'll and popularity known that Mr.,
Chapman Store is Wisconsin institu.
ton and not mere city affair. In fact
it caters to the trade of the Northwest.
Mr.. Chapman's store is entered from
th e Milwaukee street approach through
Greek portico. The doric columns are
of Scotch granite, With the rest of Ohio
sandstone and Tenn essee marble. The
visitor passes between the columns
through vestibule hoored with tiles,
past an alcove up staircase of cherry
and thence through the older portion of
the store into the recently completed
addition. This salesroom is so feet high.
Half way up moulding projects. The
walls and ceiling are frescoed in oil,
painted with the brush by hand and by
a prominent Munich artist, brought ex-
pressly from Germany to do this work.
Mr.. Chapman has evidently made a
new departure. The elegant bazaars of
the Palais Royal, the shops on Regent
street or Oxford street, may present a
more lavish display of goods-they do; the
mammoth establishments 10 New York
and Boston may be of larger proportions
they doubtless are, but quality and
size are but relative terms, they are not
suggestive of new and progressive ideas.
In this store are utility, grace, beauty,
novelty, eye-pleasure, mind education.
The principal points Mr.. Chapman had
in view, however, were the personal COM
fort and health of his patrons and en-
ployes. La this he has succeeded almost
beyond his own expectations and hopes.
In fine, this well-known establishment ia
the best best-lighted, best ventilated,
and the most handsomely decorated of
any dry gools store in the world, Lon
don and Paris not excepted.-Mil,oaukce
Nan1fiHeI