Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1900 — BRILLIANT IN COLORS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BRILLIANT IN COLORS

PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION WILL GLOW WITH WONDERFUL RADIANCE. Electrical Illumination* anal Other Features In Which Buffalo's Fair Will Excel All Former Enterprises of This Description. Even the Buffalonian cannot comprehend the exquisite character of the great Exposition he is building. Is it any wonder, then, that the distant native still asks what it is to be? Indeed It Is to be_ev.erything that Is graceful, harmonious and beautiful. Form and color will join their wonderful forces to please the eye and delight the sense.

“Magnificent” is not too strong a word to express the character of the completed work. He is a man of dull imagination who. now visiting the grounds, cannot picture in some degree the comeliness and stateliness of the finished enterprise. The Tan-American Exposition is intended to be in every way an artistic triumph. From the very beginning it has been tbe purpose of those who have been intrusted with the making of this Exposition to present to the world the most artistic creation ever conceived for a like purpose. The arrangement of the buildings, the style of architecture, the decorative work, the embellishment of the grounds and the electrical illumination are some of the features that will stand out prominently in the Exposition picture. There are 33 acres iu the courts around which stand the principal Exposition buildings. While the whole Exposition plot of 330 acres will bo as beautiful as nature, with the artistic help of man, can make it, the several courts will be the particular center for formal decorative work. The courts are arranged in the form of a cross, the north and south courts bearing the names of Court of Fountains. Plaza, Fore Court and Approach and being nearly 3,000 feet in extreme length. The Transverse Court is known as the Esplanade and is 1.700 feet from east to wesL Two subordinate courts open into the Esplanade, known as the Court of Lilies and Court of Cypresses. The combined area of these courts is approximately two and a half times the area of the courts at the World’s Columbian Exposition and for this reason gives a far greater opportunity for artistic treatment. It has been said of this Exposition that it would outrival all former enterprises in a number of important features. The first of these Is in the court settings just described. The second is in the plastic ornamentation of buildings and the elaborate use of sculpture for decorative purposes. As a third may be mentioned the hydraulic and fountain effects. These are of a most elaborate character and are to be seen in all of the courts. A fourth feature is the horticultural decorative work. Sunken gardens and formal floral ornamentation will be employed at every point where the bright colors of foliage and flowers will add to the beauty of the scene. As a fifth feature may be noted the color decoration of the buildings. This is a very elaborate undertaking, the result of mature study upon the part of the best mural painters of the world. Considered a very dlflicult. if not embarrassing, problem at first, it has been worked out by patient study until results very pleasing and happy have been achieved. A sixth point of excellence will be the electrical illumination of all the courts. Then the brilliance of the gardens and the radiant beauty of the buildings will be heightened by tbe glow of 200,000 electric lamps arranged with artistic conception and Illuminating with fantastic hnes tbe numberless fountains and pools and turntng tbe scene Into one of uni; vnled splendor. The >»yle of architecture is what Is described ns a free adaptation of tbe Spanish renaissance. It Is particularly appropriate for the purposes of an Exposition slime It gives opportunity for the employment of many architectural features of a festive character. Thus the visitor may see many lofty towers and lanterns, graceful domes ■ and minarets, airy pavilions and o’her decorative work that will produce a sky line free from any suggestions of mohotony or severity. Tbe Electric Tower, standing In a broad pool between tbe Court of Fountains and the Plaza, Is to be the center-! piece for electrical Illumination. This tower Is 80 feet square and 375 feet 1 high, with circular wings curving from ! tbe east and west sides to the south- I ward and forming a semicircular space in which are to be many beautiful fountain features. From the southern face of the Tower a cascade will gush from a niche, 70 feet from the ground, and fall upon a terraced base. At night this cascade and tbe fountains and pools will be Illuminated in fantastic colors. Flfnttog lights upon all the •MM will tprm an Interesting feature 0t the general scheme of illumination.

Some 30 or more American sculptors of renown arc at work upon the decorative groups which are io have a place at this Exposition. These are to he nearly all original- productions under the master direction of Karl Bitter. It will be tbe most elaborate use of decorative sculpture ever undertaken at an Exposition, there being more than 125 groups. These will adorn the fountains, bridges, entrances to buildings and other salient points. Besides the pools and fountains, within the several courts will be a graud mid stately canal which will surround the entire group of buildings. In the southern reaches of this canal are artificial bodies of water known as the Mirror Lakes, from which lagoons extend in several directions, thickly set with aquatic plants of rare species. In addition to the sunken gardens and other floral features of the courts will be the horticultural exhibits in the southern part of the grounds. These will consist of several acres of beds of tbe finest productions of the best nurseries and greenhouses of the western world. The competition f6r supremacy will be very keen and tbe lover of flowers will have a rare opportunity to make a comparison of the merits of tbe productions of competing growers.

MARK BEÑIŢ.

THE ELECTRIC TOWER.