St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-02
TIE FOUR PALACES

Ing and curling clubs would unite their
forces and give periodical exhibitions. The
Windsor hotel, which is a very large and
expensive building, erected at a cost of
$1,000, 900, for some years after its erection
failed to pay any dividend and the stock
went down as low as SO a share. The
management were enlightened enough to
foreSee that by utilizing the forces the yarl-
Gus clubs presented that an entertainment
could be gotten up which would attract a
crowd of visitors, fill the hotel with guests
and enable the company to pay dividend,
which 1t did for three years, but this year
was obliged to pass il. They gave
every encouragement to the undertaking
and a central committee, consisting of rep
reSentatives from the various clubs was
formed, at the head of which was MIR.
Mathew II. Gault, Dominion member of
parliament for West Montreal; Mr.. Joseph
HickSon, general manager of the Grand
Trunk, seeing that his road would be bene-
fitted enlisted in the cause, and the hotels
and merchants throughout the city were
approached on the subject and contributed
literally towards fund for carrying out
the undertaking. The city also contributed
handsome sum and in fact all those
whom it was expected would derive benefit
from an influx of visitors were solicited for
donations. After considerable elaboration
the plan of having a winter sports assOcia-
ton extending through the winter months
was abandoned and it was determined 10
give a carnival. A procession of BOreas,
Jack Frost and other NEUROLOGICAL deitieS
from the HyperbOrean region was proposed,
but was dropped when Mr.. Robert Me-
Gibbs. young lawyer president of one of
the snOwshOe clubs, proposed an ice palace,
reasoning that the Canadian climate was as
cold as Russia and if the idea could be car
ried out then it was equally feasible in
Montreal. The MesSrs. Hutchinson & Bro.
architects and builders, who had erected
many public buildings and palatial resi-
dences, were consulted on the subject but
were 10th to undertake the job, as they
were totally unacquainted with the capabil-
tiles of ice for, building purposes. A fund
of So, 600 was set apart for this experiment,
which was condemned by the croakers as
impracticable OH the ground that ice was
too slippery to remain in position and the
''whOle thing would come down with
rush before they got through with it and
perhaps cause serious loss of life"
The architects went TO work, however. de-
spite diScouragement and laid the fOunda-
ton on Dominion square. which adjoins
the Windsor hotel. 1t was plain rectan-
gular structure ninety feet square with an
unembellished tower in the center rising
above those at the corners. On each of the
corners and main tower peak roof of ever
greens was made. The outer walls were
about fifty feet high, composed entirely of
square blocks, and the central tower arose
to an altitude of thirty feet more. The
space between these walls and the top of
the tower was covered also with eyergreens.
1t was suggested that hose be played on
those, and the water freezing would cover
them with spray. They were covered with
spray until about noon the next day and
looked exceedingly beautiful, but the suns
rays were too strong, and these glittering
gems vanished. The implanted rafters in
the interior detracted from the effect and it
was discovered that ice has a quality
peculiarly its own. and will not harmonic
with any other color. Cuts were made of
this palace and sent to all the American
papers, and so great an excitement was
worked up that a vast cOncOurse of
strangers visited the city, and the Windsor
hotel made $50, 900. The palace. however,
was mere toy and being placed in a square
| on one side of which lowered the lofty
| Windsor hotel, and on the other the massive
tower of ST. Peters Roman Catholic cathe-
dral which is a fac smile of st. Peters
at Rome. its proportions were dwarfed
and had the electric light not then been in
existence to show to perfection the magical
! effects in refracted light that can be pro-
; duced by light shining through ice there is
every probability that the experiment would
not have been repeated. 1t gave the build
ers a new revelation as to the capabilities of
ice for architectural purposes and much ex-
perience was gained in watching it thaw-
ing. The wind swept through the Joints
leaving many tons weight which were sup
ported only by few lcicles. The receipts
at all the hotels that year were very large
and the retail dealers did a good trade
| The second palace was on much more ex-
tended plan. The main tower arose to a
| height of 70 feet and the whole structure,
instead of being 90 as in the first palace,
was in the neighbOrhOOd of $50 feet square.
1t was proposed to have building which
could be utilized as rink, but Mr.. Hutch
/ insOn pointed out that height must be sacri-
| feed as in order to build rink of any alti-
tude very massive walls would be required.
As the illumination of the palace was its
most attractive feature even very strong
electric lights would show but family
through the thick walls. 1t were better.
| therefore, he reasoned, that massive
tower be built with heavy foundation, the
walls of which would be thinner as they
reached the summit. Then let curtain
| of smaller towers, joined by a wall
of from thirty to fifty feet in height be
built around this tower. The walls of the
Outworks need not be constructed of so
great thickness as to dim the electric
! lights placed between them and the main
tower. The lights placed in the upper pOr-
ton of the tower, which being built of ice
no thicker than the Outworks, would pene-
| trate as well as those below. This arrange
mont would, therefore, battle the entire
building in an equally-distriDuted flood of
! light. IL the castle were one massive tower
of 100 feet the lower portions could not be
| lighted up. This is the reason. therefore,
that tower is the essential feature in all
| these constructions, in order to attain height
and the OutwOrks to obtain light. The sec
ond palace, owing to thaws, night work and
| the hurry TO get it finished in time cost
| $4,000. In fact. all these structures except
the first had to be built IN limited period,
the first occupying month and the last
two or three weeks.
The palace of 1885 was more elaborate
still. being $50 feet square. with a central
tower reaching nearly 100 feet. The main
tower was flanked by four towers fifty feet
| in height, from which extensions projected.
terminating on two sides in martello towers
forty feet in height, and ON the other two
by square structures thirty-five. feet in
height. These four lines of decreasing
towers extending from the main structure
were joined together by a ciruuIar wall
| twenty feet in height. The feature which
distinguished it from its two predecessors
was that more attempt had been made tn
substitute curved for square lines. conse-
| quently more masonwOrk was required. A
little experience showed that ice could be