Woman’s Building
Architect: Miss Sophia B. Hayden, Boston, Massachusetts
Area: 77,212
Cost: $138,000
Picturesque World’s Fair, An Elaborate Collection of Colored Views—Published with the Endorsement and Approval of George R. Davis, 1894
THE WOMAN’S BUILDING.-In no Exposition previous to that of 1893 was there a great building designed by women and devoted especially to a display of women’s work. That the Columbian Exposition should have such a structure was a natural outcome of the movement which made a Board of Lady Managers with a voice in the control of certain branches of exhibit of exhibition. The Woman’s Building occupied an exceptionally fine position just west of the west lagoon, and with all advantage afforded for the display of its architectural features. Its dimensions were three hundred and eighty-eight feet by one hundred and ninety-nine feet, its cost being $138,000. Competition for the design was restricted to women, Miss Sophia Hayden, of Boston, being the successful aspirant. The edifice was in the style of the Italian Renaissance, and, while perhaps lacking power and great originality in its conception, was at least chaste in effect and pleasing. The appearance of a towering skylight was not good when the view was at all remote, but it answered its purpose well of brightening the interior. The grouping consisted of a center pavilion flanked by corner pavilions, all connected in the first story by open arcades, a promenade being thus formed extending the whole length of the building. The pediment of the main triple-arched arched entrance was well proportioned and was enriched with an elaborate bas-relief. The interior effect of the rotunda with its surrounding arcades was light and pleasant, and the exhibits, including a great display of women’s work, were inspected under the best conditions.
INTERIOR OF THE WOMAN’S BUILDING—The interior of the Woman’s Building, viewed from the gallery end, presented an exceedingly attractive appearance. The great space was admirably lighted from the skylight over the central court, and the objects on display were visible with exceptional distinctness. Very curious and interesting were many of these objects, the character of which may be vaguely discerned in the illustration. A feature of the exhibits in this building was that many of them had a personal interest of exceptional character. For instance, there was a painting by Queen Victoria, one which, if painted by anyone else would have been pronounced but crude and commonplace, but which, having been painted by a queen, attracted vast attention. There was a painting of two boys—Paris gamins—by Marie Bashkirtseff, an admirable thing in its way; and there were quaint old tapestries and portraits of famous dames; there were a thousand things in the way of what might be expected, too, that is, in the display of those dainty things which make the difference between the houses of the cultivated and the uncultivated; there was a beautiful exhibit of old plates and delicate Chinaware, and a host of things that a woman loves and which affect the man insensibly, though perhaps he could not tell just how. Interesting not to women alone but to men, was a visit to this building, because of its gentle curious if for nothing else. Because of the skylight, everything was pleasant and of bright womanliness. It was a very cheerful place.
ENTRANCE TO WOMAN’S BUILDING.—The view given in the accompanying illustration is of the east portal to the transept of the Woman’s Building, and it may be said of it, as might be said of other portion , of the edifice, that it appeared best upon a close inspection. The building, accidentally, no doubt, but none the less certainly, had a feminine character, lacking boldness and strength of conception, but charming in its parts and showing close and tasteful attention in its details. The triple arches, with Ionic columns between, were pleasant to look upon, and the bal-cony above, its entablature supported by Corinthian columns, added to the general gracefulness of the effect. The triangular bas-relief appearing on the pediment was the work of Miss Alice Rideout, of California, and represented various commendable occupations.of the gentler sex, among the figures being those typifying “Charity,” ” Beneficence, ” Literature,” “Art ‘. and ” Home Life.” The entrance porticos projected some fourteen feet from the main wall of the building. The pretty windows in the rear of the balcony show with good effect in this picture, but of course would not be visible to any one standing very close to the entrance. A position very near the edge of the West Lagoon was, in many respects, the best from which to contemplate the Woman’s Building.
Book of the Fair, H. H. Bancroft, 1893
Among the features which distinguish the Columbian from all former international expositions are the scope and character of its Woman’s department; and among the most pleasing exhibits of that department is the building which contains them. For the first time in World’s Fair annals, as I have said, a special edifice has been devoted to the purposes of that department, or rather to a portion of its purposes, for, side by side, not only in the great temples of industry, but in state and foreign pavilions, are specimens of male and female workmanship. For the first time also has been designed by a woman a structure fashioned for such uses.
In the plan of this building we have the result of a national competition, but of competition only among women, the choice being made from a large number of designs, not a few of which were of unquestionable merit. The successful candidate was Sophia G. Hayden, a graduate of the architectural school of the Massachusetts institute of technology; and in the evolution of her scheme she has presented a neat and artistic solution of one of the most difficult problems of the hail. In this building must be contained, not only a general and retrospective display of womans work, whether in our own or foreign lands, but space must be provided for the exhibits of charitable and reformatory organizations, for a library, an assembly-room, for parlors, committee rooms, and administration nnd other purposes. All this must be accomplished in a space 400 feet long by half that width, adjacent to the Midway plaisance and the Horticultural hall.
Selected for its skill of detail no less than for its grace and harmony of design, this composition is the work of a professional architect, and not, as some would have us believe, of an architectural scholar; for if Miss Hayden was before unknown to the profession, she has here given proof that she is far above amateur rank. If in her design its feminine features are somewhat pronounced, that is as it should be. As one of her brother architects observes, “It is proper that such a building should take its place with the other architectural productions in Jackson park, and it is eminently proper that the exposition of woman’s work should be housed in a building in which a certain delicacy and elegance of general treatment, a smaller limit of dimension, a finer scale of detail, and a certain quality of sentiment, which mffiht be designated in no derogatory sense as graceful timidity or gentleness, combined, however, with evident technical knowledge, at once differentiate it from its colossal neighbors, and reveal the sex of its author.”
In style the building is modeled after that of the Italian renaissance, with the facades of the first story fashioned in the form of an Italian arcade, and surrounded with a portico the root of which serves as a balcony for the second story. The colonnade of the upper story is suggestive of the Corinthian order, and between the columns arc windowed spaces, adapted to the comparatively small dimensions of the chambers within. The principal entrance is in the form of a triple arched pavilion, flanked by a surface of solid wall, with double pilasters, above it an open colonnade of the same design as those on either side, and with the pediment richly decorated in bas-relief. In front the corner pavilions arc similarly treated, as also are the side entrances, but without pediments, and with rows of pilasters in place of colonnades. Over the side entrances is a third or attic story, opening at the main roof on gardens, around which is a screen of pilasters. From the central pavilion spacious stairways lead to a terrace a few feet above the water, where a landing is built on the northern arm of the lagoon.
In the interior is a central hall opening into a rotunda, with decorated skylight, unencumbered by columns, and of sufficient altitude to admit the light from rows of clear-story windows. On both floors this open space is surrounded with open arcades, those on the upper story serving as galleries, and resembling somewhat the corridors of an Italian courtyard. The interior plan displays the most careful economy of space in providing for suites of connected apartments, differing in size but for the most part of almost domestic proportions, and with due regard to lighting, circulation, and communication. The appearance of the building is in harmony with the conditions from which its design was evolved, suggesting rather the lyric features of the Art palace than the heroic aspect of the larger temples of industry and science, and with a grace of expression worthy of its uses and its artificer.
For the decorative as for the structural scheme of the building designs were invited among women qualified for such work throughout the United States, and after eager and close competition the prize was awarded to Alice Rideout, of San Francisco, by whom were modelled the compositions on the main pediment and the symbolical groups of the roof-gardens. All the groups are more or less typical of the part that woman has played in the history of the world, of what has been, is, and will be her sphere of duty and influence. The mural paintings, with other ornamental features, as the carved wainscotings, screens, and balustrades, the tapestries and panels were also contributed by women, while from many of the states came offers of cabinet woods, marble and other materials in quantities larger than could be accepted, though to some was granted as a privilege the right of furnishing and decorating their own apartments and interior decorations.
On the roof are winged groups typical of feminine characteristics and virtues, all in choicest symbolism, one of the central figures representing the spirituality of woman, and at its feet a pelican, emblem of love and sacrifice. In the same group charity stands side by side with virtue, and sacrifice is further symbolized by a nun, placing her jewels on the altar. In another group is the genius of civilization, with the bird of wisdom at her feet; on the right a student, and on the left a woman groping in intellectual darkness but struggling after light. These and others, together with the figures on the pediment, typical of literature and art, of charity, beneficence, and home are from the hand of the San Francisco sculptress. On the frieze is a figure of youth, and on the panels of the entrance-ways are represented the occupations of women.
- A visitor gazes northward from the eastern veranda of the Woman’s Building
To Mrs Candace Wheeler, of New York, was given the superintendence of the interior decorations, the most noteworthy of which are the paintings at either end of the rotunda, where is the court of honor. On the north tympanum, under the name of Bertha H. Palmer, primitive woman is depicted by Mrs Frederick Mac Monnies, of St Louis, the central figure representing motherhood, with women on either side sowing seed and carrying jars of water. Upon the opposite tympanum is modern woman, beneath the name of Sophia G. Hayden, typified by a group of young girls in pursuit of a figure of fame, which is disappearing in the distant blue of the heavens. A broad frieze surrounds the gallery, and between its arches are inscribed on the intervening panels the names of women whom the world has honored, from Rebecca and Ruth to the celebrities of the present day.
From the corridors which surround the court, on the second floor, open the various parlors, exhibition rooms, and assembly chambers. the northern end of the main hall is decorated in gold and white, its windows of stained glass adding to the effect. The central window was furnished by Massachusetts, and symbolizes the pait which that commonwealth lias played in the advancement of woman. It is flanked, by two smaller ones, presented by the women of Chelsea and Boston. The walls are covered with portraits of some of the more prominent personages in the cause of education, reform, and philanthropy. A large space is occupied by a picture of Burdett-Coutts, with models of some of her institutions, and other illustrations of her labors. The figure of Fredericka Bremer is the most prominent in the Swedish gallery. France, Norway, and the United States have also their niches of fame filled by such women as Lucretia Mott and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The Connecticut chamber and the woman’s library open from the western corridors. In the decorations of the library is a subtle combination of colors, the ceiling painted by Dora Wheeler Keith, daughter of Mrs Candace Wheeler, resembling the frescoes of some old Venetian palace, although the symbolic treatment is appropriate to the purpose. In the central oval, enclosed by a wreath of white lilies, iteiatme is typified by a shapely woman, science by a man in scholastic garb, and imagination by an amml with outstretched wings. Between this oval and the Venetian border which encloses the ceiling, arc loops and folds of drapery in soft|y blended hues representing the tints of sky and landscape, and at the four corners arc medallions symbolic ot history, romance, poetry, and the drama.
The small but tastefully furnished and decorated parlor occupied by the women of Connecticut is hung with pictures from the hands of the daughters of that state, and in addition to its other purposes serves as a reception room for the commissioners of foreign countries. Into the eastern corridor open the reception rooms occupied by the state boards, and by the women of California, Ohio, and Kentucky. Though intended lot residents of those states, the parlors are open to the public, as examples of decorative art. The California department has been called the cactus room, from the fact that its coloring and decorative scheme are largely in imitation of that plant. Mrs Frona Funice Wait, the commissioner from California, was the oiiginatoi of the idea, and carried on the actual work. A pleasing effect is produced by the grayish green of the cactus, as seen m the glass windows and draperies, and the warm, rich hues of the polished ledwood flooi, the panelled ceiling and walls. The furniture of native woods is ornamented with similar designs, as arc the carvings on the panel frames of ceiling and walls. On one side is a large mirror, and above it a panel of redwood, upon which is the shield of the state elaborately carved. The floor is partially covered by the skin of a grizzly bear from Humboldt county, and on the panels of the walls are pictures by prominent California artists, representing the flora of the state, and such scenes as the old San Francisco mission, the Clift house, Mount Hamilton, Lake Tahoe and Mount Shasta. Busts of native Californians are placed on pedestals of native onyx and marble; some of the draperies arc of home-made silk, and there are vases fashioned by members of the Ceramic club of San Francisco, with other specimens representing the arts and industries of the golden state.
The largest of the suite is Cincinnati’s parlor, the decoration of which was in charge of Agnes Pitman, of that citv, daughter of Benjamin Pitman, who for years has been identified with its academy of design. I ndcr the direction of her father Miss Pitman carved the first table thus decorated by a woman in Cincinnati, and here exhibited as a curiosity. Wood-carving is now a popular branch of industrial art among her women, and beautiful specimens of their handiwork are to be seen in the ceiling and in the furniture of the apartment. Around it is a frieze of floral design,shading from a pale cream color to a dark brown tint, and beneath the frieze is a border of buckeye leaves and blossoms, with tasteful mural designs. In a case near the centre of the room are specimens of Rookwood and other pottery from the women of Cincinnati. Over the door is a group named The Jury, representing in ceramic work a cluster of owls; and among the statuary may be mentioned a marble figure of Ariadne, and a statuette of Evangeline in terra cotta.
Kentucky’s room is called the colonial parlor, its ceiling divided by massive beams, the supporting columns of which are entwined with sprays of wild roses.
The mirrored windows and the old fashioned fireplace are in keeping with the general design, the brass andirons being loaned by a member of the family of Cassius M. Clay. By other old and prominent families was contributed most of the antique furniture, including a sofa which was the property of President Tyler, and a chair used by Elder Brewster, of Plymouth colony, more than three centuries ago. There are portraits of comely women on these walls of white and gold, and there is statuary by the artificer of the caryatides on the Woman’s building, with tasteful specimens of ceramic work.
In the extreme southeast corner of the second floor, near the so-called organization room, is the office of the president, Mrs Potter Palmer, commonly termed the fish-net room, with seines festooned from the ceilings, a casting net forming a canopy over the president’s desk, and figures representing women engaged in making eel pots, nets, baskets, and other articles connected with the fisheries, for this collection there was no place in the Fisheries or other buildings, and here through the efforts of the president and lady commissioners, and of delegates from several of the states was found for it a suitable home with adequate representation. Among the decorations is a water-color painting of New Jersey’s seacoast birds by Hardenburg with designs in fish-scales, and specimens from women taxidermists. By Mrs Williamson, secretary of the State Charities Aid association of New Jersey, and a member of the school of pedagogy in connection with the university of New York, was originated the decorative scheme of this chamber, and to her is largely due its unique and tasteful equipment.
The women of New Jersey supplied the antique colonial furniture, including tables, chairs, sofas, and a piano in use as 1750, some of them valuable Rlics o the colonial and earlier republican eras contributed by the oldest families of Salem county, New Jersey. Of such relics, in which the county is exceptionally rich, there are catalogues in the president’s office prepared at the request of the Board of Lady Managers by Miss Anna Hunter Van Mete 1, chairman of the county committee on antiques.
Opening on the eastern corridor is the chamber set apart for the headquarters of the several state boards, with its dainty screens, embroideries, and mural decorations
Harper’s Weekly, January 9, 1892
The Woman’s Building, World’s Fair.
By M. A. Lane.
It was a chief desire of the women composing the Board of Lady Managers of the Columbian Exposition to limit the work of their department to their own sex. Plans for the building, designs for ornamentation, models for sculptures, and all the rest of it would be acceptable only from women. The rest of the exposition would be the work of man. This special department must be the work of women. Of course, when the affair was brought down to its practical extremity, the ladies, as usual, were compelled to call in the assistance of the men. Ladies cannot cart dirt, lift heavy weights, handle derricks, operate steam-engines, and eat meals in boarding houses whose tables are set and served with a special reference and an accommodating consideration for the brevity of day-laborers’ pay. Men have put up the building, but they have been the mere wooden tools that have shoveled mortar and erected beams and plastered staff according to the design of a woman—Miss Sophia G. Hayden, of Boston.
But there is at least one of the women who thinks it might have been otherwise. She says:
- I believe that women could have done it all. At least, I have seen women in Germany who could put in mosaics as artistically as me, and I am sorry we did not secure these women to lay some mosaics for us. But if we did not put up the building, we have furnished the ideas for it; and everything i it, when the exposition opens, will be of women. In this one place man will be completely shut out.
And this manager tells the truth, if the ladies will only decide to follow their programme. Their building is perhaps now more advanced than any other on the grounds. Indeed, it is all but complete. The Ionic columns guarding the flat roof at the northern and southern wings are in position. These portions of the building will be made into a tea garden with a canopy of Japan silk, and the favorite beverage of the sex will be suggested by Oriental dressing and decoration and shrubbery at every turn. From the roof, at a dozen widely scattered points, will arise pilasters surmounted by sculptured groups modeled by Miss Rideout, of San Francisco, the subjects bearing strictly on woman’s progress, woman’s art, and woman’s work.
If the purpose of this department of the exposition to show the world what woman has done since man first gave her an opportunity of doing anything; so that here will be on exhibit, so to speak, everything of this sort, from the rather ideal and superorganic movement of Female Suffrage to the practical and somewhat prosaic accomplishment of making bread and doughnuts and frying sausages. The Darning of a Stocking of weak character will be placed in opposition to the Christianizing of China, for instance; Temperance Reform will take sufficient interest in housekeeping to be closely quartered with the Manufacture of Raspberry Jam; and Printing, Sculpture, and Music will not (here at least) disdain the art of plucking chicken feathers and singeing goose necks.
It is not expected that the ladies who work for women suffrage or temperance reform will be seen in the same practical demonstration of their life effort as will the ladies who will combine red cheeks, white aprons, and prettily laundered bonnets with the dexterous handiwork of mixing batter for breakfast muffins. Nor is it the intention that the authors, painters, sculptresses, and designers shall be seen in the very doing of their genius, as will be the ladies who knit, do needle-work, use the sewing-machine, or set type. Yet all of these will be there in their proper place, and will be seen to advantage, if not in the actuality in all cases, at least in the result, or the product, or the stuff.
There is to be a retrospective department on the first floor, where an attempt will be made to show from what woman was to what woman has become—Posse ad esse, as the high school girl graduate puts it in her farewell address. Here (in art, of course, not in reality) will be seen the early woman who was altogether a merely incidental convenience to the man, who did his work for him while he fought with neighboring tribes. Then will be seen the shrinking, timid, trembling Dulccinea, or whatever her name was, who had not sufficient self-assertiveness to have an opinion on politics. Then, by degrees, will come the woman of more modern civilization, beginning, of course, with Queen Isabella, who is directly responsible for the Columbian Exposition, until at last we have the woman born in the electric light, with the shriek of the locomotive in her baby ears, and the daily paper at her hand for reference.
It will be a grand and touching retrospect this, and should teach thrilling lessons to the men who go there, for it will suggest another retrospect—the retrospect of the future, when the future woman will look back at this same Woman’s Building and marvel how her weak mother could have been satisfied with an odd corner of Jackson Park.
There will be a library in the building which will contain nothing but the writings of women. Of course the fabrics out of which dresses and bonnets are made will be fully shown. Also jewelry that has been beautified by feminine touches. But there will be the kindergarten and the kitchen, too, a department for the showing of the charitable work originated by women, an art department, and then exhibits displaying the work of the hands of women in all times and in all climes.
The home of this sweetness and comfort and beauty, as aforesaid, was designed by a woman. The structure needs but little more labor to make it ready for occupancy. The dimensions are 200 by 400 feet, and its cost has been about $200,000. Its architecture is classic. There are to it end and centre pavilions, connected in the first story by an open arcade that is surmounted by classic vases. In the first story the style of Doric, and in the second the style of Ionic. The main entrance is made through the centre pavilion, and this portion is treated with a triple archway of the story above, with a row of free-standing Corinthian columns.
Most of the interior on the first floor is occupied by the main gallery. This measures 60 by 240 feet. At the extremes are apartments 80 by 200 feet. In the one at the south will be the retrospective exhibit. The second floor will be given up to parlors, reception-rooms, and administration rooms.
In their announcements the women give the warning:
- In the central gallery it is intended to have grouped the most brilliant achievements of women from every country and in every line of work. Exhibits will be admitted only be invitation, which will be the equivalent of a prize. No sentimental sympathy for woman will cause the admission of second-rate objects, for the highest standard of excellence is to be there strictly maintained.
[…] división se trasladó a la sociedad y a la prensa. En algunos artículos de la época se pueden leer tanto críticas como halagos al trabajo de Hayden, algo que contribuyó al debate […]