90 iS"BW TOEK AT THE WoRLd's COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 



which were modeled the lions that formed a separate and interestnig 

 feature of the building. The original sculpture referred to is built into 

 the walls on the landing of the staircase of the Barberini palace and 

 represents a lion in high relief but lacking the right shoulder, one of 

 the fore paws and being otherwise incomplete. Notwithstanding these 

 defects, it never fails to fill the beholder with awe, and give the impres- 

 sion of a degree of power and repose not seen in any of the other lions 

 of the Eenaissance. That this lion has not been widely copied is 

 undoubtedly due to the fact that it has always belonged to a private 

 family, but through government influence the architects were enabled 

 to have an actual cast made of the original in 1891, which reached 

 America shortly before the New York State Building was designed. 

 The cast was later presented to the board and furnished the sculptor, 

 Potter, at once with an inspiration and an opportunity. After supply- 

 ing the lost portions of the Roman original, he turned it into the round 

 and -then modeled for the completed lion a mate, differently posed but 

 strictly in consonance with the treatment and tradition of the Roman 

 sculptor. The extreme difficulty of the task of making both lions 

 appear to be the work of the same sculptor was only equalled by the 

 success with which Mr. Potter conquei'ed it. 



The monumental scale of the building made its facade most impres- 

 sive. The height to the clere. story roof line was seventy-seven feet 

 five inches, the height of the deck floors between the belvederes was 

 eighty-one feet, and the height of the floors of the belvederes was 

 eighty-three feet above grade. The Italian heights of the stories dif- 

 fering in their greater loftiness from those most familiar to American 

 eyes, lent a certain majesty to both exterior and interior effect. The 

 general character of the building.was sumptuous rather than florid and 

 suggested a semi-public rather than a domestic use. 



The main floor of the building consisted of a vestibule measuring on 

 the pavement forty-six feet by seventeen ,f eet six inches, and being 

 thirty-three feet ten inches high ; of an entrance hall eighty-four feet 

 long by forty-six feet deep and twenty feet six inches high ; of a grand 

 staircase hall forty-six feet by thirty-seven feet, with a dome ceiling 

 forty-six feet high ; of a sxiite of three drawing rooms on one side and 

 three reading and writing rooms on the other. The architecture of the 

 vestibule or loggia, while presenting on the street the Medician motive, 

 suggested in its ceilings and end walls the Villa Madama, another of 

 the outlying Roman villas, its niched fountains being like those in the 



