Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 12 To-day we went to the "Dream City," as Mrs. Candace Wheeler so prettily named the Chicago Exposition,[1] and saw the grand weekly illumination in the evening. At about five o'clock in the afternoon we pressed on with the crowd toward the grand basin. It seemed to be the objective point with all and we were so fortunate as to secure a seat on one [...]
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 11 The Infanta of Spain was entertained by the World's Fair officials to-day, June 8, 1893, and we were fortunate in viewing the pageant from a good stand point.[1] It was a perfect day, cool and bright, and smiled on unclouded to its close. We secured some of the handy little camp chairs that are rented on the ground, and entering the south door of [...]
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 10 A low curved roofed, wide eaved temple, built of foreign woods covered with intricate carving, with deep lace-arched balconies, and blind walls, windowless and dark.[1] The East India Government Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. Graphic Co., 1894.] As we enter the door a strange odor of mingled incense and sandal wood greets us. We [...]
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 9 We roamed through a cave of the sea;[1] on either side rose lofty pillared arches, thickly broidered and crusted with myriad growths of ocean's mysterious depths and of its various tributaries. Shells in all their whorls and spirals and intricate convolutions; half sentient sea anemones, sea ferns and broad leaved kelps, branching lace like and weeping willowy corals, arrowy reeds and floating lily pads, [...]
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 8 Pause, before you enter, and gaze upon this mighty mass of crystal and iron;[1] union of purity and strength, seemingly so frail and airy, and yet in reality so firm and stable. Look at the roof, like a huge translucent wave, at the grand majestic archways towering high above you, with their pictured allegorys [sic] smiling down upon you from their airy heights.[2] Step [...]
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 7 Will ever human foot tread such a "way" again? 'Twas as if one had "Aladdin's Lamp" or the wonderful carpet that transported one to any clime with the celerity of thought. One bears the booming of the Dahomian skin drums, and sees the terrible naked Amazons in their hideous dance; sees the Laplander wrapped in his furs and leading his reindeers; sees the Esquimeaux, [...]
The Chicago Public Library, in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center, will host an online presentation on "Building Chicago’s Public Spaces" by Chicago parks historian Julia Bachrach. The talk on Wednesday, December 2, from 6-7 pm, is free but registration is required: https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/5f9c4a02e085ab5c2caf057d Bachrach will highlight two major architectural themes in park history: the Museum of Science and Industry—built as the Palace of Fine Arts for the World’s Columbian Exposition—and the fieldhouse, an influential building type invented in Chicago. She will [...]
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 6 In the very centre, midway of “The Midway” stands a high wooden enclosure, and rising above it like a gigantic spider’s-web, the "Ferris Wheel." After the usual “open sesame" we enter the enclosure, and mounting a flight of steps find ourselves upon a high platform with the revolving monster only a few feet distant, but protected by a stout wooden paling. We, with some [...]
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 5 This fine June morning we will go to Egypt without the tribulations of an ocean voyage and the fatigue of travel. Walk up to this broad gateway, where a swarthy woman wearing a stick bound to the bridge of her nose and between her eyes, with a long black netted veil hanging from below them to her knees, is trying, with many blandishments, to [...]
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 4 Still traveling along the Midway, we see on the right hand at some distance as yet, a temple that looks as if it had jumped out of the old dogs-eared geography we studied at school.[1] Two square towers composed of little balconies one above the other, each a little smaller than the last one, and all surmounted by a curved projecting roof, hung thickly [...]
