Embedded Files
The Architects & Artists
Board of Architects and their assignments:
Richard M. Hunt-Administration Building
W. L. B. Jenney-Horticultural Building
McKimm, Mead, & White-Agricultural Building
Adler & Sullivan-Transportation Building
George B. Post-Manufactures Building
Henry Ives Cobb-Fish and Fisheries Building
Peabody & Stearns - Machinery Building
S. S. Beman- Mines and Mining Building
Van Brunt & Howe-Electricity Building
C. B. Atwood-Peristyle, Music Hall, Casino, Fine Arts Building, Forestry Building, Dairy Building, Terminal Railway Station. Atwood was the Designer-in-Chief of the Construction Department.
Sophia B. Hayden-Woman's Building
Consulting Landscape Architect-Fredrick Law Olmsted & Co.
Consultant for sculptural design- Augustus St. Gaudens
Construction Materials and Costs
Construction Materials
Buildings were constructed of iron, wood, glass, and staff. Staff was invented in France ca. 1876 and first used in buildings of the Paris exhibition in 1878. It is composed of Plaster of Paris molded around a fibrous jute cloth. These are mixed with water and cast into molds. The material is off-white and is usually about 1/2 inch thick and cast around the fibers to help prevent brittleness. Castings can resemble cut stone, rock, faced stone, or any other type of masonry. 32,000 carloads of staff were used in the construction. Staff is impervious to water and is 1/10 the cost of construction with stone. The lower portions of the walls were often reinforced with concrete, to provide added strength.
Staff being applied to a building during construction of the exposition.
120 carloads of glass, enough to cover 29 acres of land, were used for the roofs of the buildings. About 70 million feet of timber were used in the construction.
Construction Costs
The Exhibition
Total cost for the exposition was $27,245,566.90, excluding the $3-4 million spent by state, federal, and foreign governments on their exhibit buildings. Provision was made for a U. S. government exhibition building, with a cost to not exceed $400,000. The main buildings were estimated to have a combined cost of over $8,000,000.
The only permanent building was the Fine Arts Building, which was constructed with a steel frame and with bricks. Dredging Jackson Park cost $615,000 and required over 800,000 cubic yards of soil.
Work done under supervision of the Director of Works, Daniel H. Burnham. At peak construction, more than 12,000 workmen were busy with the site and structures.
Decorative Work
Grading and filling- $450,000
Landscaping-$323,500
Viaducts and bridges-$125,000
Piers-$70,000
Waterway improvements-$225,000
Railways-$500,000
Steam plant-$800,000
Electric lighting-$1,500,000
Statuary-$1,000,000
Vases, lamps, etc.-$50,000
Lakefront adornment-$200,000
Water supply and sewage-$600,000
Other-$1,000,000
Total, this section: $5,943,000
For the costs of various buildings, please see the Architectural Profiles.
This compares with the estimated $9,500,000 cost of the 1889 Paris Exposition.
The White City, origin of the "City Beautiful" movement in the United States, represents an unprecedented collaboration of artists, architects, engineers, sculptors, painters, and landscape architects who joined forces to create a single work - an ideal model city. The White City truly was the largest single common artistic undertaking ever. To preserve harmony in this ideal city, some general guidelines were given to artists and architects. Within these guidelines, they had wide latitude on the creation of the final product. One standard was that the cornice height was always to be 60 feet. Another was that the buildings should be within the Classical style. The dominant Classical themes were Roman Imperial and Greek. Roman Imperial themes were especially prevalent, manifested in the many domes, arches, and arcades. For the grand celebration of a republic, it is interesting to note the lack of Roman Republican influences in the architectural style. The underlying themes of the White City, the true main exhibition of the fair, were scale, harmony, and ensemble. The style is known most commonly as the Beaux Arts style, as the architects who designed the exposition were trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France.
Making the miles of decoration for the fair out of plaster and staff, a legion of artists and craftsmen were brought to Chicago
After the fair, the City Beautiful movement accelerated, and grand designs were made for many major cities. Daniel Burnham assisted with city plans for Washington, D.C. as well as for Cleveland (Ohio), San Francisco, and Manila (Philippines). A plan was created for Chicago itself ca. 1903-1909. The Beaux Arts style swept the nation and remained popular until European modernism became influential in the 1920s.
The White City was not originally planned to be quite so white. To speed up the painting process, it was decided to use one color of paint for most buildings. For the Court of Honor, it was specified by Francis D. Millet, Director of Decoration, that white would be the only suitable color. To keep the White City white, there was a ban instituted on coal as an energy source during the exposition.
The White City could have never been built, had other schemes for the fair's design been considered. One scheme was to house the fair entirely in a 1500 foot tall tower with a 5000 room hotel inside of it. Another idea was a 3000 foot diameter tent-like structure that would have housed the entire fair under one roof. Another was to purchase and relocate Rome's Colosseum to Chicago for the fair, just as an exhibit.
Read an interesting article about the White City and its influences.
Bruce R. Schulman
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse