The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1892-06-07
A SCENE OF sPLENDoR.
4 the Magnificent Spectacle which
the Worlds Fair VIII Present.


The following is from Mr.. Van
Brunt's description of the Columbian
exhibition in the Century: eve have al
ready said that this vestibule was in
tended to introduce the visitors to the
exposition into a new world. As they
emerge from its east archway and enter
the court. they must, if possible, receive
memorable impression of architectural
harmony on a vast scale. To this end
the forums, basilicas and baths of the
Roman empire, the villas and gardens
of the princes of the Italian Renais-
sance, the royal court yards of the
palaces of France and Spain, must yield
to the architects, in that new world
which is the DID, their rich inheritance
of ordered beauty, to make possible the
creation of bright picture of civic
splendor such as this great function of
modern civilization would seem to re-
quire.
cat the outset it was considered of
the first Importance that the people, in
circulating around the court enter
ing or leaving the buildings, should so
far as possible be protected from the
heat of the midsummer sun. To assist
in accomplishing this object the great
quadrangle will be closed in by a series
Of sheltered ambulators, like the Greek
stoa, included in and forming part of
the facades of the palaces of machinery
and agriculture on the right, and of the
liberal arts and electricity on the left.
The vast fronts of these buildings, far
exceeding in dimensions those of any
-, 1.0n
group, with their monumental colon
naded pavilions, their sculptured en-
REGIMENTS, their statuary, domes and
towers, will appear in mellowed ivory
marble, relieved by decorations in color
in the shadowy recesses of the porticos.
Immediately before him the stranger
will behold the great basin $50 feet
wide and 1,1O0 feet long, stretching
eastward in the middle of the court,
bordered with doubled walled terraces,
of which the lower will be decorated
with shrubbery and flowers, and the
upper with balustrades, rostral col
umns, vases and statuary. Broad stairs
descend from the main porticos of the
buildings to the water, and the canals,
which enter the basin on each side, are
crossed by monumental bridges On the
nearer margin of the greater basin, and
in the axis of the court, he will see a
smaller circular basin $50 feet in diam
eter, on level with the upper terrace,
fanked by two lofty columns bearing
eagles. In the center of this, on an an
tique galley of bronze 60 feet long,
eight colossal rowers, portraying the
arts and sciences, stand four on a side,
bending to their long sweeps; in the
prov is poised the herald Fame, with
trump and outspread wings; while, aft,
Time, the pilot, leans upon his helm, and
high aloft on a throne, supported by
cherubs, sits Columbia, fair, youthful
figure, eager and alert, not reposing
upon the past, but poised in high ex-
pectation. Eight couriers precede the
barge, mounted upon marine horses
ramping out Of the water. The whole
triumphal pageant is seen through a
mist of interlacing fountain-jets, and
from the trimming basin the water
falls fourteen feet in series of steps
into the greater sheet below, half
circle of dolphins spouting over the cas-
cade. This pompous allegory is the
work of the sculptor Frederick Mac
Monnies. At the outer end of the basin
soe Dsnsf Fl & the fa sasB tbs fso aGH
water. 1t is treated somewhat in the
Greek archaic manner, with strong
accentuation of vertical lines, but with
simplicity and breadth which give the
figure an aspect of majesty and power.
Beyond it, double open colonnade, or
peristyle, sixty feet high, like that Of
Bernini in front of st. Peters, forming
three sides of a square, closes in the
great court toward the lake. OF the
two wings of this colonnade one is
concert hall, and the other casino or
waiting hall for passengers by boat. Its
columns typify the states of the union.
In the center of this architectural screen
is a triumphal arch thrown over the
canal which connects the basin with
the harbor. Through this and through
the open screen of the colonnade one
may see the wide-spreading lake, the
watery horizon, and, still in the axis of
the court and thousand feet from the
shore, lofty pharos with an island
casino at its base. Animating the
whole, banners and gonfalons futter
gayly from innumerable- Stats; people
of all nations walk in the shadow of the
porches, linger on the bridges, crowd
along the broad pavement Of the ter
races and watch from the balustrades
the incessantmovement of many-colored
boats and electric barges upon the
water"