Missouri State Building
Architect: Gunn & Curtis, St. Louis, Missouri
Area: 5,824
Cost: $45,000
Picturesque World’s Fair, An Elaborate Collection of Colored Views—Published with the Endorsement and Approval of George R. Davis, 1894
THE MISSOUR! BUILDING.— The great state of Missouri, prominent in the history of the country for many years, yet recently awakening into new and more vigorous life, was admirably represented at the Columbian Exposition. The first appropriation toward this was subsequently increased to a half a million. The state building was in the Spanish Renaissance style, cost forty thousand dollars, and was one of the most graceful of edifices of its class. It was located on the thoroughfare of state buildings leading from the Fifty-seventh street entrance to Lake Michigan, and was a place of resort for thousands beside Missourians. Its dimensions were ninety by one hundred and ten feet, with a height of sixty feet, and a tower rising to a height of one hundred and forty feet. The main entrance with its flanking cupolas was one of the most charming in appearance to be found anywhere. There were thirty-two rooms in the building, including those devoted to the usual offices and a number used as reception and resting rooms and for exhibits which included many relics and objects of interest. It may be said of the Missouri Building that it was distinctly an architectural success. Its dome surmounting the tower was certainly its most distinguishing feature. It was often compared to an inverted water lily, and in its gracefulness of outline and originality of design afforded, it must be admitted a strong contrast to several domes which could be looked upon from the broad balconies of the Missouri Building.
Missouri State Building
Just to the south of the Florida Building, and facing the Art Gallery annex, across the main avenue, is the building of Missouri. It is a massive structure, of the composite order of architecture. A long facade, pierced with deeply recessed arches, is two stories high, the upper lighted by square windows. At the west end is a low, square tower with a steep roof running to a point terminating in a flagstaff. At the east end, a taller tower, also square, surmounted with a lantern, which has a towering flag pole on its summits. At each corner of this tower is also a shorter pole, from which flags are floating. The interior of the building is divided into large halls for displays of women’s work, curios, and historical relics, and there are also numerous reception halls, toilet and check rooms, parlors for men and women, reading and writing rooms, etc. The building, as far as practicable, was built of Missouri materials, by Missouri mechanics, and its rugs, carpets, curtains, and other furnishings are largely the products of the labor of the women of this State. The wool clipped from the native sheep was carded, spun and woven by them. Most of the exhibits of this State are distributed among the departmental buildings of the Fair. Nevertheless there is much here of great interest. Specimens of the fruits of the Olden farm, in Howell county, the largest orchard in the world, show what the State can do in this direction. There are also grains, grasses, and fine cabinets of woods and minerals.
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