The Architecture and Landscape Gardening of the Exposition Part 7

The serenity and intimate seclusion of the Court are due perhaps more than to any other single feature, to the quiet, circular pool in its center, shut in by banks of shrubbery and bare of sculptured ornament.

Court of the Four Seasons One of the Colonnade Murals

The Court is octagonal in shape, by reason of the fountains, screened by stately rows of columns, which fill its cornet recesses. These corner fountains are distinctly Roman in inspiration, the detail being suggested by the baths of Caracalla. Between the double rows of ma.s.sive Ionic columns runs the colonnade. The capitals of the columns are enriched by pendant ears of corn, surmounted by a single open flower.

Above the severely treated doorways, in each recess, are two mural paintings by Milton Bancroft, picturing alternately the seasonal pleasures and pastimes and their activities or industries. The murals, with the two in the half-dome, also by Milton Bancroft, are all conventionally cla.s.sic, in keeping with the spirit and atmosphere of the Court.

Within the sheltered niches are the fountains of the four seasons, where the water, rose-tinted by day and a luminous green by night, slips softly and musically over three broadening semicircular terraces to the cool, green pool beneath. The sculptured groups, surmounting the terraced fountains, are by Furio Piccirilli of New York. The enclosing walls are soft pink, the line where they join the blue vault of the sky charmingly broken by the living green of luxuriant, trailing vines.

Court of the Four Seasons The Ionic Columns

Through the columns is a glimpse of the Eastern Gateway where, carved in three panels over the entrance, is the following inscription:

So forth issew'd the seasons of the yeare, First l.u.s.ty spring all dight in leaves and flowres.

Then came the jolly sommer being dight In a thin ca.s.sock coloured greene, Then came the autumne all in yellow clad, Lastly came winter, cloathed all in frize, Chattering his teeth, for cold that did him chill.

--Spenser.

The triple panel in the attic of the Western Gateway reads:

For lasting happiness we turn our eyes to one alone, And she surrounds you now.

Great nature, refuge of the weary heart, and only balm to b.r.e.a.s.t.s that have been bruised.

She hath cool hands for every fevered brow And gentlest silence for the troubled soul.

--Sterling.

Court of the Four Seasons The Colonnade and Lawn

The harmonious impression of the Court of the Four Seasons is due largely to the faithfulness with which cla.s.sic influences have controlled every detail, both in architecture and in ornament. The bulls' heads between festoons of flowers which decorate the base of the entrances into the north court, the eagles at the corners of the pylons above, and the vases repeated on the bal.u.s.trade about the Court are all Roman in design. Thoroughly cla.s.sic also are the wreaths of fruits and grains on the panel of the cornice and the lions' heads above. While "The Feast of Sacrifice," the superb groups by Albert Jaegers, crowning the pylons at either side of the entrance to the north court, recall the ancient custom of celebrating the close of harvest by the sacrifice of flower-garlanded bulls.

The planting of the court is quiet and stately, and notably carries out its spirit, with the gray-green of foliage plants and eucalyptus trees and the gnarled stems of gray old olive trees. In its vistas from any angle or point of view, the Court is peculiarly satisfying and beautiful.

Court of the Four Seasons The North Colonnade by Night

To stand in the midst of this curving octagonal court and hear, above the whisper of the trees, the murmur of the four hidden fountains that gush unseen from the base of allegorical groups of statuary, glimpsed through colonnades, is to stand in Hadrian's villa of old, where we hear

"Fitly the fountains of silver leap, Whose sound is as soft as the listless flow Of streams that forever linger and go Down delicate, dream-far valleys of sleep."

As in a dream, one looks down the last vista to the open rotunda and crescent hemicycle of the Palace of Fine Arts beyond a lagoon that mirrors them on its surface. Rising from the rich, green ma.s.sing of shrubbery and mossy banks, the rotunda lifts its proud head, encircled with garlands of symbolical figures, as above a grove of Academe. Behind it the soft red walls of the place glow like the fading embers of sunset. These courts, strung like a rope of pearls between the two poles of man's achievement--mechanics and art--are the heart of the Exposition, and in them are treasures of color and form untold.

--Edwin Markham

Palace of Food Products The Portal from the Gardens

The north facade of the Palaces which line the Marina is bare almost to severity, except for the rich adornment of the portals, the same detail being repeated for each palace. Spanish models served as the patterns for these handsome doorways, the three fine arches, with their supporting columns, suggesting the earlier Spanish Gothic, while the decorative features reflect the Moorish influence of a later period.

The motif is appropriate for the waterfront, reminiscent as it is of the epoch of the Spanish Main. This hint is carried out in the sculptured figures in the alcoves above each arch. Allen Newman modeled them, giving to his work the dash and daring of the domineering conquistadors and piratical deckhands of those stirring days. The portal here pictured leads directly to the Esplanade near the Gardens adjoining the California Building.

Palace of Food Products A Detail of the Main Portal

It requires several visits to the Exposition to become accustomed to the stupendous scale which has been followed, not only in the expansive landscape gardening, but in the architectural plans.

In this ill.u.s.tration, a faint conception is afforded of the proportions of the main entrance to the Palace of Food Products. The doors themselves are of ample size, yet are dwarfed to insignificance by the lofty columns and vaulted ceiling of this delightful portal, which is a reproduction from the Spanish Cathedral of Salamanca. The great arches are decorated after the plateresque style, and the spandrels abound in garlands, horns of plenty and other goodly tokens. A Moorish note is detected in the lacy network of the latticed windows. The domed ceilings are painted blue and tints of pink and dull orange are used on the walls and columns of the portal.

The Esplanade North Facade, Column of Progress

The Esplanade is bounded on the north by the Marina and the sparkling waters of the Bay: The boundary line on the south is the imposing frontage formed by the north facade of the four palaces, broken by the inviting entrances to the Court of Ages, the Court of the Universe and the Court of the Four Seasons.

The domes which mark these entrances loom up in fine proportions, and the entrances to the various palaces are particularly well done. Against the old ivory of the ma.s.sive walls are cl.u.s.tering thickets of cedar, spruce, eucalyptus and clumps of low-growing shrubs.

It is a rare combination--the view one has from the Esplanade. Across the Bay are the inviting hills of Marin County and equally enticing are the vistas stretching through colonnades and arches formed by the courts and palaces of the Exposition. The Column of Progress, surmounted by the "Adventurous Bowman", holds the most noticeable position on the Esplanade.

North Facade A View from the Bay

The Esplanade extends westward from the ferry slip, along the north facade of the main group of buildings, past the ma.s.sive walls of the California building and through the States' section to the Ma.s.sachusetts building.

From the Bay, the dominating center of the Esplanade is the splendid Column of Progress, on either side of which lies the Spanish wall of the north facade broken only by the four magnificent and identical sixteenth-century Renaissance portals which open into the Palaces of Mines, of Transportation, of Agriculture and of Food Products. From the base of the Column of Progress, the vista stretches away, through the Forecourt of the Stars and the Court of the Universe, to the Tower of Jewels, which dominates the southern approach to the grounds. Against the sky-line are outlined the lesser spires of the Italian towers, the heavy bulk of the sculptured groups crowning the arches of the Rising and the Setting Sun, the square summit of the Tower of the Ages and the round domes of the palaces.

Palace of Food Products A View from the Fine Arts Laguna

The impression of unity of design in the main group of buildings is heightened by certain distinctive features which characterize all of them in common. On all, there is the central dome, which, with the repeated smaller domes on the corners, is the chief source of charm in the p.r.o.nounced Oriental or Moorish effect when seen from a distance. The long, unbroken lines and wall s.p.a.ces give a sense of repose and restraint and emphasize the richness and beauty of the entrances where the decoration is ma.s.sed. The Palace of Food Products occupies the north-west corner of the main group of buildings. Its western exposure is Roman in design to harmonize with the Palace of Fine Arts on the opposite side of the laguna. Its dominant feature is the great half-dome, officially called "The Half Dome of Physical Vigor," which forms its west entrance. The tall Corinthian columns on either side support Ralph Stackpole's figure of "Youth" and crowning the smaller columns which line the dome are the repeated statues by Earl c.u.mmings, portraying "Physical Vigor," from which the dome takes its name.

Palace of Education A View from the Fine Arts Laguna

The western exposure of the Palace of Education duplicates the same wall of the Palace of Food Products and the entire facade along the laguna is called the Roman wall, by reason of the thoroughly cla.s.sic spirit in which it is conceived.