The Portland daily press., 1892-05-02
A MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE.
The Worlds Fair as 1t VIII Appear when
Opened.


in the May Century:
We have already said that this vesti-
bule was intended to introduce the visi-
tors to the Exposition into new world.
As they emerge from it's east archway
and enter the court, they must, if posi-
BILE, receive memorable impression of
architectural harmony on vast scale.
To this end the forums, basilicas, and
baths of the Roman Empire, the villas
and gardens of the princes of the italian
Renaissance, the royal courtyards 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 splen-
dor such as this great function of modern
civilization would seem to require.
cat the outset it was considered Of the
first Importance thas the people, in cir
culating around the court and entering
or leaving the buildings, should SO far as
possible be protected from the heat of
the midsummer sun. To assist in accom-
plishing this object the great quadrangle
will be closed in by a series of sheltered
ambulatories, like the Greek stoa, in
cluded 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
other ancient or modern architectural
group, with their monumental colon
naded pavilions, their sculptured enrich
ments, their Statuary, dOmes, and towers
will appear in mellowed ivory marble,
relieved by decorations in color in the
shadowy recesses of the porticos. I'M
mediately before him the stranger will
behold the great basin $50 feet wide and
HOO feet long, stretching eastward in the
middle of the court, bordered with
double walled terraces, of which the
lower will be decorated with shrubbery
and flowers, and the upper, with balus-
trades, rostral columns, 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 monu-
mental bridges. On the nearer margin
of the greater basin, and in the axis of
the court. he will see smaller circular
basin $50 feet in diameter, on level With
the upper terrace, fanked by two lofty
columns bearing eagles. In the center Of
this, on an antique galley of bronze so
feet long, eight colossal rowers, portray
ing the Arts and Scienres, 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 q throne, supported by
| cherubs, Columbia sits, a fair youthful
figure, eager and alert, not reposing upon
the past, but poised in high expectation.
Eight couriers precede the barge mount
ed upon marine horses ramping out of
the water. The whole triumphai pageant
is seen through a mist of interlacing
fountain-jets, and from the brimming
basin the water falls IA feet in a series Of
steps into the great sheet below, half
circle of dolphins spouting over the cas-
cade. This pompous allegory is the
work of the sculptor Frederick MacMon-
nies. At the outer end of the basin a
colossus of the Republic, by the sculptor
Daniel G. French, rises from the water.
1t is treated somewhat in the Greek
archaic manner, with strong accen-
tuatlon OF vertical lines, but with sim
plicity and breadth which give to the
figure an aspect of majesty and power.
Beyond it, double open colonnade, or
peristyle, go feet high, like that of Ber-
mini 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 a concert-hall,
and the other a casino or waiting hall for
passengers by boat. It's columns typify
the States of the Union. In the center of
this architectural screen is a triumphal
arch thrown over the canal which con-
meets ths basin with the harbor. Through
this and through the open screen of the
colonnade one may see the widespread
ing lake, the watery horizon, and, Still in
the axis of ihe court, and thousand feet
from the shore, lofty phares with an
island casino at its base. Animating the
whole, banners and gonfalons futter
gaily from innumerable staffs; people of
all nations walk in the shadow Of the
porches, linger on the bridges, crowd
along the broad pavement of the terraces
and watch from the balustrades the in
cessant movement of many-colored boats
and electric barges upon the water.