center of the dome will be a colossal statue of Ceres surrounded by other allegoric groups of statuary. All through the main vestibule statuary has been designed illustrative of the agricultural industry. Similar designs are grouped about all of the grand entrances in the most elaborate manner. The corner pavilions are surmounted by domes96 feet high, and above these tower groups of statuary.

center of the building pavilions are reared, the center one being 144 feet square and those at the ends 64 feet square. The corner pavilions are connected by curtains, forming a continuous arcade around the top of the building. The main entrance leads through an opening 64 feet wide into a vestibule, from which entrance is had to the rotunda, 100 feet in diameter. This is surmounted by a mammoth glass dome, 130 feet high. Under the

The design recommended for these domes is that of three women of herculean proportions supporting a mammoth globe. At stated intervals other groups of statuary have been arranged around the building, principally near the eight minor entrances, each of which is 20 feet wide. The roof of the building is of glass, and the entire cornice is highly ornate. A broad colonnade will connect this building and the Palace of Mechanic Arts.

Women who visit the Exposition will be well cared for in the Woman's Pavilion, the plans for which have been completed by Miss Sophia G. Hayden, the Boston architect.

Among other things, provision has been made for aerial gardens at either end, where women may rest amid trailing vines and cool lake breezes.

The building itself is 200 by 400 feet in its general dimensions, and is two stories high, with an attic

arches or colonnades, and give access to the various exhibition, committee, and reception rooms, ladies' parlors, etc.

On the first floor are the general reception rooms, kindergarten, and halls of general exhibit for woman's work. On the second floor are the ladies' parlors and reception rooms en suite, and a large hall for congresses that will accommodate 1,500 people. On the opposite end from the hall is a meeting room for the Executive Committee of the Board of Lady Managers, with necessary offices for the president, secretary and other officers. There are large toilet and dressing rooms, well lighted and ventilated, and on the landing of the four principal stair-cases which lead to the second floor are four lounging rooms, made comfortable with spacious divans and walls hung with tapestries, em

broideries, and other specimens of woman's handiwork.

The great hall is brilliantly lighted from the top, and furnishes ample opportunity for the display of works of art on its walls. The style of the exterior design is Italian Renaissance of a fine and delicate type of ornamentation, and the friezes and spandrels of the arches are decorated with sculptured festoons and garlands. The pediments which crown the entrances of the east and west fronts will be filled with figures in relief, and the angles of the pavilions above the main corners are to be crowned with groups of female figures. It is intended to have the sculptured design executed by the most celebrated women sculptors here and abroad. A competition will be instituted by Mrs. Palmer which is intended to call forth the best of such talent.

Machinery Hall, on which Peabody & Sterns, of Boston, have been working for months, has been pronounced by many architects second only to Richard M. Hunt's Administration Building in the magnificence of its proportions. This building will be 850 by 500 feet, and cost $450,000. It is located at the extreme south end of the park, midway between the shore of Lake Michigan and the west line of the park. It is just south of the Administration Building, and its northwest corner approaches within a few rods of the big transportation loop.

The building is spanned by three arched trusses, and the interior will present the appearance of

three railroad train-houses side by side, surrounded on all of the four exterior sides by a 50-foot gallery. The trusses are to be built separately, so that they can be taken down and sold for use as railroad train-houses. In each of these long naves there is to be an elevated traveling crane running from end to end of the building for the purpose of moving machinery. These platforms will be built when the exposition opens, so that the visitors may view from them the exhibitions beneath. Steam power for this building will be supplied from a power-house adjoining the south side of the building. The two exterior sides adjoining the grand court are to be rich and palatial in appearance.

The largest structure on the World's Fair grounds I will be the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, designed by George B. Post, of New York. Its dimensions are 788 by 1,688 feet. Its location is on the eastern side of the park, near the lake shore. It has the lake on the east and a waterway on the south and west sides. It is so designed that it resembles four long buildings joined together in the form of a rectangle about an interior court and forming one continuous exhibition hall. This hall receives light from both sides and the top, and each

section is composed of a central arch 100 feet wide, open to the roof and 80 feet high, with galleries on either side 50 feet wide. The four buildings will be under one roof, which will make an unbroken span through the center of the building 388 feet wide and 1,400 feet long. In the center of the span, running north and south, it is proposed there shall be an avenue 50 feet wide, to be called Columbia aveAnother walk 50 feet wide will cross this at right angles, running from one side to the other of the building. The arched roof will be 150 feet high.

nue.

The galleries are approached upon the main floor by thirty staircases, the flights of which are 12 feet wide each. There are four great entrances, one in the center of each façade. These are designed in the manner of triumphal arches, the central archway of each being 40 feet wide and 80 feet high. Surmounting these portals is the attic story, ornamented with immense sculptured eagles 18 feet high, and on each side above the side arches are large panels with inscriptions, and the spandrels are filled with sculptured figures in bas-relief.

The long façades of the hall surrounding the building are composed of a series of arches filled with immense glass windows. The lower portion of these arches, up to the level of the gallery floor and 25 feet in depth, is open to the outside, thus forming a covered loggia, which forms an open promenade for the public, and will prove an interesting feature, particularly on the east side, where it faces the lake. It is intended to locate here a number of cafés, where the great crowds can loiter at their ease and enjoy the breezes and cool shadows of the afternoon.

Running about the center will be a corridor, opening into the span, and a series of 86 projecting balconies elliptical in plan will be constructed. By walking out on these the visitor will be enabled to look down on the vast crowds of people and exhibits below.

The north and south corridors at the ends of the building will be left open, so that visitors may there find shelter from sun and rain. From the north corridor a view may be had of the Government Building and such maneuvers of troops as may take place. From the south corridor there will be a view of the Administration Building, the Grand Plaza and the big basin with its numerous boats flying to and fro.

In this building will be the Departments of Manufactures and Liberal Arts, and the view down the long span, it is declared, will be magnificent. The corresponding building at the Paris Exposition was 1,378 feet long and 374 feet wide, so that it could have been conveniently built inside this structure.

A correspondent of the New York Daily "Times" writing from Chicago during the progress of the erection of this building, said: "The palace of Manufactures and Liberal Arts at the World's Fair will be the largest building in the world. Westminster Abbey might be placed inside of it. St. Paul's Cathedral in London could hide itself under its shadow. It will be a modern wonder of the world. It will be, approximately, 800 feet wide and 1,800 feet long. It will cover more ground than all the buildings in the original drawings of the directory, when it was thought to hold the fair on the lake front alone. It will be a mile around it. Ten buildings as large as the Auditorium could be tucked under it. If it be so desired, the Eiffel Tower could be slid lengthwise beneath the roof of the palace, and on top of the auditoriums. The Washington Monument might also be stored there and be kept out of the wet."

THE CASINO

One of the novel buildings of the exposition will be the Casino and Pier. The Casino, which will stand out in the lake 1,000 feet from the shore, is intended to reproduce Venice on a small scale in Lake Michigan. Burling & Whitehouse of Chicago have completed the design for this structure, and the architecture is, of course, of Venetian order.

The Casino will be built on piles and connected with the shore by a pier 80 feet wide. The base dimensions of the Casino will be 180 by 400 feet. The building will consist of nine pavilions, two stories in height, and, with the exception of the central one, 80 feet above the surface of the water. The center pavilion will be 180 feet high. There will be communication between the nine pavilions

AND PIER.

both by gondolas and bridges. Completely surrounded by water this structure with its fleet of boats and numerous waterways is expected to have a decidedly Venetian flavor. Surrounding the central pavilion will run a gallery 56 feet wide. The pier connecting the Casino with the shore will form a broad promenade. At the west end of the pier will stand the thirteen columns designed by Sculptor St. Gaudens to represent the thirteen original States. In front of the Casino will be a harbor for small pleasure crafts. At night this harbor will be lighted by incandescent lamps sunk beneath the surface of the water on floats. The material of the Casino will be of wood and the walls will be covered with staff. A striking combination of high colorings will be effected.

FINE

The Fine Arts Building is said by the architects to be the most purely classic of any. Whether the art exhibit will beautify Jackson Park or the Lake Front Park, where the old exhibition now stands, is a question.

The building is of pure Grecian-Ionic style, and a type of the most refined classic architecture. It is oblong, 500 by 320 feet, intersected north, east, south and west by a great nave and transept 100 feet wide and 70 feet high, at the intersection of which is a dome 60 feet in diameter. It will be 125 feet to the top of the dome, which is to be surmounted by a colossal statue of the type of famous figures of winged victory. The transept has a clear space

through the center of 60 feet, being lighted entirely from above. On either side are galleries 20 feet wide and 24 feet above the floor. The collections of sculpture will be displayed on the main floor of the nave and transept, and on the walls of both the ground floors of the galleries will be ample wall spaces for displaying the paintings and sculptured panels in relief. The corners made by the crossing of the nave and transept are filled with small picture galleries. Around the entire building are galleries 40 feet wide, forming a continual promenade around the entire structure. Between the promenade and the naves are the smaller rooms devoted to private collections of paintings and the

collections of the various art schools. On either side of the main building will be one-storied annexes, divided into large and small galleries capable of expansion. These annexes will be 120 by 200 feet wide. The main building is entered by four portals ornamented with architectural sculp

ture and approached by broad flights of steps. The walls of the loggia of the colonnades will be decorated with mural paintings illustrating the history and progress of the arts. The frieze of the exterior walls and the pediments of the principal entrances will be ornamented with'sculptures and portraits in bas-relief of the masters of ancient art. The general tone or color will be light-gray The main stone. The construction, although of a temporary character, is necessarily fire-proof. walls will be of solid brick covered with staff All light will architecturally ornamented, while the roof, floors and galleries will be of iron.

lagoon by terraces ornamented with balustrades, with an immense flight of steps leading from the main portal down to the lagoon, where there will be a landing for boats. The north front will face the wide, open lawn and the group of State buildings. The immediate neighborhood of the building will be ornamented with groups of statues, replicas and ornaments of classic art, such as the Choragic monument, and "Tower of the Winds." mentation will also include single statues of heroic and life-size proportions. The probable cost of the building will be between $500,000 and $600,000.

The orna

other superb lilies and water-plants will be seen in blossom.

Horticultural Hall will be almost translucent. Its crystal dome and roofs of glass will admit, while it softens, the sunshine which will be everywhere present in the building. From its northern windows may be seen the Woman's Building, 200 by 400 feet, with its delicate Italian architectural center, flanked by end and center pavilions con

nected by an open arcade. Here, under the control of the Board of Lady Managers, will be exhibits of women's work alone, and, as one of the most novel and important features of the exposition, it has been given one of the most conspicuous sites on the ground.

North of these buildings will rise the Illinois State Building, and beyond this, in the improved portion of Jackson Park, is located the Art Building and annexes, which will cover an area of 250,

000 square feet. The central building and the annexes are so grouped as to form a large court open to the north and facing the many State buildings, which will occupy the upper end of the park. This court will be filled with statuary, fountains, reproductions of famous architectural remains, and fragments from the historic buildings of ancient periods. To the east lies the ground which will be devoted to the buildings to be erected by the foreign nations.

The Forestry Building will be 208 by 520 feet with a colonnade all about it, the pillars of which are tree trunks 18 inches in diameter and 24 feet high, while the roof is covered with bark and flagmasts tied to the timbers. It will cost $100,000, and will be very unique.

There will be at the World's Fair a more extensive and interesting forestry exhibit than has ever been made before. The plan of the Forestry Building admits of a more systematic and attractive arrangement of exhibits than has been possible at previous expositions. All the woods of the world will be exhibited, the purpose being to show the quantity and geographical location of timber in all countries. At the Centennial, exhibits of forest products were made by 124 nations, states and municipalities.

Several States have already begun preparations for their exhibits at the exposition; the State of Washington having one log ready for shipment that is four-and-a-half feet in diameter and 111 feet in length. The microscope indicates that this magnificent specimen of the fir is nearly 450 years old. They have named this log "Seattle." A number of trees will be shown that attained an age of 500 to 700 years. The exhibit will include vegetable ivory, dye-woods and barks, and an interesting exhibit of the wood-pulp industry.

The agricultural colleges of this country will be asked to furnish information and illustrations of forests of their States, the rapidity with which they are being cut down, the number of trees annually planted, with the plans taken to extend the cultivation of trees.