214 



EXPOSITION, THE PAN-AMERICAN. 



mumlent of Ethnology and Archeology, A. L. 

 iii-iu'dict; Superintendent of Live Stock and of 

 Dairy-Products and Agricultural Products, Frank 

 A. Converse; Superintendent of Horticultural and 

 Food-Products. Frederic \V. Taylor; Superintend- 

 ent of Mines and Metallurgy, David T. Day; Su- 

 perintendent of Manufactures, Algar M. Wheeler; 

 Superintendent of Press Department, Mark Ben- 

 nitt; Superintendent of Passenger Department, 

 James V. Mahoney. 



Finances. The Pan - American Exposition 

 Company was organized with a capital stock of 

 $2,500,000, with authority to issue bonds for a 

 similar amount. The bill introduced into the New 

 York Legislature, which was signed on March 1, 

 181W. appropriated $300,000 for a State building 

 and exhibit, and Congress, on March 3, 1899, ap- 

 propriated $300,000 for a Government building 

 and exhibit. Citizens of Buffalo subscribed and 

 paid for stock and bonds to the amount of $4,467,- 

 905. 



Location. The original site on Cayuga island 

 having been abandoned, the Board of Directors 

 chose grounds in the northern part of Buffalo, 

 within three miles of the business center of the 

 city. The plot contained 350 acres, and its dimen- 

 sions from north to south were about one mile, 

 and from east to west about half a mile. Of this 

 tract, 133 acres were improved park property, in- 

 cluding a watercourse and an irregular and beau- 

 tiful lake, half a mile in length, which w r as de- 

 scribed as " the most beautiful interior lake in 

 the country." and became one of the principal 

 water features of the exposition. This site was 

 considered the most accessible of any that could 

 have been chosen, and it w r as reached over the 

 electric street-railway, system by means of trans- 

 fers, so that it w r as within a twenty minutes' 

 ride from the central portions of the city. A line 

 of double-track steam railway, known as the 

 New York Central Belt Line, encircled the city, 

 and touched the northern boundary of the expo- 

 sition grounds. By means of this line, access was 

 had to all the steam railways entering Buffalo. 



Buildings. The principal buildings were ar- 

 ranged around a broad court, having the form of 

 an inverted letter T. The transverse section of 

 this court, called the Esplanade, ran east and 

 west, and there was a space of more than 1,700 

 feet between the extremes. The Court of Foun- 

 tains, which was north of the transverse court, 

 was 500 feet wide and 200 feet from north to 

 south. The Aquatic Basin in this court was 225 

 teet wide by 565 feet long, and covered more than 

 two acres. It contained numerous fountains, and 

 wan one of the most picturesque features. On the 

 right was a subordinate court, known as the 

 Court of Cypresses, while to the left, in similar 

 design, was the Court of Lilies. Beyond the 

 Court of Fountains was the famous Electric 

 Tower, while to the right were the buildings de- 

 voted to agriculture and manufactures and the 

 liberal arts, and to the left were the buildings 

 I to electricity and machinery and trans- 

 portation, these four being the largest of the ex- 

 ution buildings. At the lower end of the 

 Lsplanade were the pylons of the Triumphal 

 Bridge, forming an entrance to the Esplanade 



hen approached from the south. The ground 

 was broken for the exposition on Sept. 26, 1899 

 and the first building to be erected was the ad- 

 ministrative headquarters for the officers of the 

 exposition, whose presence was required upon the 

 grounds, to which the name of Service Building 

 was given Simultaneously with the erection of 

 the great buildings was the excavating of a wide 

 canal, more than a mile in length, and the crea- 



tion of small lagoons, while at the same time 

 thousands of trees and shrubs were planted, in 

 order to make the grounds attractive. The prepa- 

 ration of plans for the exposition was entrusted 

 to a board of architects, composed of John M. 

 Carrere, Chairman, of Carrere & Hastings, New 

 York; John G. Howard, of Howard, Caldwell & 

 Morgan, New Y^ork; Walter Cook, of Babb, Cook 

 & Willard, New York; Robert S. Peabody, of 

 Peabody & Stearns, Boston; George F. Shepley, of 

 Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, Boston; George Cary, 

 Buffalo; August C.Esenwein,of Esenwein & John- 

 son, Buffalo ; Edw T ard B. Green, of Green & Wicks, 

 Buffalo. The electrical effects were planned by 

 Luther Stieringer, with Henry Rustin as engineer, 

 while the landscape plan and all formal landscape 

 work, including bridges and approaches, were un- 

 der the direct- supervision of John M. Carrere, 

 chairman of the board. Rudolf Ulrich was the 

 landscape gardener. 



The style of architecture followed was a free 

 adaptation of the Spanish Renaissance, chosen in 

 graceful compliment to those Latin-American 

 countries whose valued assistance had been 

 sought and gained. No such aggregation of colon- 

 nades and pavilions, arcades and balconies, log- 

 gias, domes, lanterns, towers, minarets, flag 

 standards, and finials w r as ever before seen under 

 a northern sky. The color treatment was devised 

 by C. Y. Turner, and gained for the exposition the 

 name of "The Rainbow City," or "The Tinted 

 City." It had for its purpose the harmonizing of 

 the buildings, not only with one another, but with 

 their surroundings, such as the sky, the grass, 

 and the water. The colors symbolized the pro- 

 gression from the less civilized stage to the high- 

 est, and so the crudest colors were nearest the 

 entrance, and as you proceeded farther into the 

 grounds they became softer and more refined, un- 

 til finally, at the Electric Tower, at the head of 

 the Court of Fountains, the highest note of all 

 was reached in the ivory-white and gold and 

 delicate blue. The entire color scheme, as de- 

 scribed by Mr. Turner at the time, is as follows: 



" The horticultural group has orange as a basis 

 for the color of the body of the building. On the 

 Government Building a warm yellow is used for 

 the plain surfaces. For the Music Hall I have 

 used red, quite pure, as the foundation color. On 

 the Ethnology Building, golden orange. On the 

 Machinery and Transportation Building green was 

 the basis. Opposite it, across the court, the Lib- 

 eral Arts Building is a warm-gray color. The 

 Electricity and Agricultural Buildings are differ- 

 ent shades of light yellow, while the restaurant 

 and entrances to the Stadium have a French gray 

 as the basis, with . a lighter shade of the same 

 tint on the Propylsea. For the Electric Tower 

 I reserved a light ivory. In the horticultural 

 group I have used blue and white largely in the 

 ornamental portions of the panels, pilasters, 

 spandrils, etc., relieved now and again by brighter 

 shades of rose and deep yellow. The Government 

 Buildings have a mild gray for the structural 

 portions to relieve the yellow, and in those build- 

 ings, where it is possible, the green note is intro- 

 duced in the sashes and doors, blue on the dome, 

 and gold on the smaller domes. Blue-green is on 

 the dome of the Temple of Music, and is repeated 

 again on the Ethnology Building. On the Ma- 

 chinery and Transportation Building red, yellowy 

 and green are introduced in the great doorways 

 and corner pavilions, and also are distributed 

 through the towers, while blue and gold play a 

 large part in the detail work of the Liberal Arts 

 Building, especially on the ceilings of the colon- 

 nades and east and west entrances, and in the 



