The City of Domes : a walk with an architect about the courts and palaces of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, with a discussion of its architecture, its sculpture, its mural decorations, its coloring and its lighting, preceded by a history of its growthBarry, John D. (John Daniel)
History
The City of Domes : a walk with an architect about the courts and palaces of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, with a discussion of its architecture, its sculpture, its mural decorations, its coloring and its lighting, preceded by a history of its growth
Barry, John D. (John Daniel)
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
The lighting of the Exposition, it was determined, should be given to
the charge of the greatest expert in the country. Several of the leading
electric light companies were consulted. They agreed that the best man
was Walter D'Arcy Ryan, who had managed the lighting at the
Hudson-Fulton Celebration and at the Niagara Falls Exposition. Mr. Ryan
explained his system of veiled lighting, with the source of the light
hidden, and made plain its suitability to an Exposition where the
artistic features were to be notable, and where they were to be
emphasized at night, with the lighting so diffused as to avoid shadows.
After his appointment as director of illuminating he made several visits
to San Francisco, and a year before the opening of the Exposition, he
returned to stay till the close. His plan of ornamenting the main tower
with large pieces of cut glass, of many colors, to shine like jewels,
created wide-spread interest on account of its novelty. It was generally
regarded as a highly original and sensational Exposition feature.
Watching the Growth
As the building went on the San Franciscans gradually became alive to
the splendor. Each Sunday many thousands would assemble on the grounds.
About a year before the date set for the opening an admission fee of
twenty-five cents brought several thousands of dollars each week. On the
Sundays when Lincoln Beachey made his sensational flights there would
often be not less than fifty thousand people looking on.
The Walled City
If there were any critics who feared that the walled city might present
a certain monotony of aspect they did not take into account the Oriental
luxuriance of the entrances, breaking the long lines and making splendid
contrast of design and of color. Those entrances alone were worth minute
study. Besides being beautiful, they had historic significance.
Furthermore, the long walls were broken by artistically designed windows
and by groups of trees running along the edge. Within the walls, in the
splendidly wrought courts, utility was made an expression, of beauty by
means of the impressive colonnades, solid rows of columns, delicately
colored, suitable for promenading and for protection against rain.
From the hills looking down on the bay the Exposition began to seem
somewhat huddled. But the nearer one approached, the plainer it became
that this effect was misleading. On the grounds one felt that there was
plenty of room to move about in. And there was no sense of incongruity.
Very adroitly styles of architecture that might have seemed to be alien
to one another and hostile had been harmoniously blended. Here the color
was a great help. It made the Exposition seem all of a piece.
The War
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