Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
First of all, a Roman model was well chosen for so vast a building. The
Greeks built no large roofed structures. Their great assemblages were
held in open-air theaters and stadia. The Greek masterpiece, the
incomparable Parthenon at Athens, was considerably smaller than Oregon's
timbered imitation at the Exposition. On the other hand, the solid Roman
style lends itself to bulk. The models followed in the Machinery Palace
were the Roman Baths, particularly the Baths of Caracalla. They have
been used once before as a model in this country, in the building of the
Pennsylvania Railway station in New York. There, too, travertine was
first successfully imitated by Paul Deniville. Looking at the Palace of
Machinery, indeed, it is not difficult to imagine it as the noble
metropolitan terminal of a great railway system. It would hold many long
passenger trains, and an army of travelers. The distinctive feature of
the perspective is the triple gable at the ends of the palace and over
the great main entrance. By thus breaking up the long roof lines, as
well as by lowering the flanks of the building to flat-roofed wings, a
barn like effect was avoided. In the triple gables, also, the three
central aisles which distinguish the interior show in the outer
structure. Under the gables the huge clerestory windows above the
entrances relieve the great expanse of the end walls. Similar windows
open up the walls above the flat-topped wings. In the main entrance, the
gables are deepened to form a huge triple vestibule where the row of
columns is repeated. The long side walls are relieved by pairs of
decorated columns flanking the minor entrances.
Thus, by entirely simple devices, the long lines and vast expanses of
wall are deprived of monotony. The architect has given majesty to the
palace, not merely a majesty of hugeness, but of just proportions and
dignified simplicity. In the general architectural scheme of the
Exposition it forms one end of the main group of palaces, at the other
end of which is set the Palace of Fine Arts. Machinery Hall, with its
severe massiveness and solidity, is a balance to the poetry and
spirituality of the Fine Arts.
The main entrance is on the west side, looking down the avenue between
the Palaces of Mines and Varied Industries. Perhaps it is better,
though, to take a first view of the sculptural decoration at the
entrance at either the north or the south end, where almost everything
is shown that appears in the more complicated main vestibule.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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