PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS
Page 49 – THE IRON GATES, GERMAN SECTION
THE IRON GATES, GERMAN SECTION.—The facade, if it may be so called, of the German exhibit in the Manufactures Building, was as unique as it was attractive. No solid front or imposing arches faced the visitor, but, instead, merely three iron gates connected by an iron fence. But the gates were on a grand scale and with the connecting fence formed in the opinion, not only of metal workers but of artists, the most beautiful piece of wrought-iron work ever made, and commanded attention from thousands when lofty porticos and columns were passed unnoticed. This remarkable facade fronted Columbia Avenue for a space of one hundred and sixty-one feet. The work was produced by Armbuster Brothers, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and when later exhibited in Berlin, attracted such regard that it was visited by the Emperor William himself, who was delighted with the masterpiece. The illustration here given is an admirable one and gives a just idea of the novel creation. The central gate was the largest piece of artistic iron ever wrought, standing forty feet high and twenty-two feet wide, the swinging portion beneath the arch weighing alone eighteen tons. The wide gates were thirty feet high and fifteen feet wide and each pair weighed thirteen tons. One hundred and fifty skilled workmen were engaged for half a year in hammering out the complex patterns from bar iron, the bars and gratings and moldings and wainscotings and flowery arches above, with the fruit and leaves and oriental tracery, formed a bewildering combination. The gates were a marvel ,a credit to the nation whose display they inclosed.