PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS
Page 39 – MUSIC HALL, THE PERISTYLE AND THE MOVABLE SIDEWALK
MUSIC HALL, THE PERISTYLE AND THE MOVABLE SIDEWALK.—First to disappear totally from among the grander features of the Columbian Exposition were the Casino and Music Hall, the famous Peristyle and a portion of the Movable Sidewalk, destroyed by fire on the evening and night of January 8, 1894. The view given above shows all save the Casino, with which the Peristyle connected on the south. Music Hall, in which were given concerts conducted by the most famous leaders and attended by hundreds of thousands of music lovers, appears in the foreground; its style of architecture, as will be seen, in harmony with and supplementing that of the Peristyle. Its interior, especially the grand concert room, was beautifully finished and decorated. The general effect of the Peristyle, as viewed from the Manufactures Building, is well shown in the picture, the columns, the triumphal arch, the promenade and the surmounting heroic figures all appearing, though at such a distance that detail is necessarily sacrificed. Beyond is the pier, extending out nearly half a mile into Lake Michigan, where were landed passengers who came to the Fair by boat. Out upon this pier ran the Movable Sidewalk. Under the long shed appearing on the walk the endless platform moved continuously, and here the tired visitor, seated in full enjoyment of the cool lake breeze, could, for five cents, ride as long as desired. The great fire which destroyed the Peristyle and connecting buildings encroached upon the pier as well, but the structure was finally saved.
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