Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
Working with Guerin, John McLaren, in charge of the landscape gardening,
so selected the flowers which border the paths and fill the parterres
that they too conform to the color scheme. Though three different
complete floral suits are to be seen at the Exposition in three periods,
each one accords with the hues of wall and tower, completing in harmony
the effect of the whole. The pinkish sand spread on the paths and
avenues to harmonize with other ground colors was not always tinted.
Some one had noticed that the white beach sand at Santa Cruz turned pink
when heated. Seizing upon this fact, McLaren and Guerin used it to give
a final touch to their scheme of color. They drew another lesson from
the washerwoman. A familiar laundry device was used to give sparkle and
brilliance to the waters of the pools and lagoons. They were blued, not
by dumping indigo into the water, but by tinting the bottoms with blue
paint.
V.
The Tower of Jewels
Imposing as the central accent of the Exposition's architecture--Its
magic glow at night--A magnificent Roman arch--"Jewels" of the Tower--
An historical landmark--Inscriptions, sculpture and murals--Fountains
of "Youth" and "El Dorado"--An epitome of the Exposition's art.
The Tower of Jewels, Carrere and Hastings, architects, is the central
structure in the Exposition architecture. (See p. 47.) It plays a triple
role. In architecture it is the center on which all the other buildings
are balanced. In relation to the theme of the Exposition, it is the
triumphal gateway to the commemorative celebration of an event the
history of which it summarizes in its sculpture, painting and
inscription. Last of all, it is an epitome of the Exposition art.
Towering above everything else, it is at once the culminating point and
the center of the Exposition scheme. It links the palaces of the central
group, otherwise divided into two sections. Upon it rests the balance of
Festival Hall and the Palace of Horticulture, of the courts, the
gardens, the Palace of Machinery and the Palace of Fine Arts. It finds
its own balancing structure in the Column of Progress. It is intended to
be the first thing seen from afar, the point from which the eye travels
to lesser things on either hand.
At night the Tower remains the center of the transformed Exposition.
Under the white light of the powerful projectors, details disappear, the
structure is softened into a form almost ghostly. It becomes ethereal.
All its daytime glitter gone, it seems really spiritual. The jewels hung
over the upper portion do not flash out a diamond brilliance, as they
might have been expected to do; rather they spread the light in a soft
film about the Tower. (p. 135.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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