Their
unique features were so manifold that it would be an impossibility to
describe them deservingly without dedicating a volume to that purpose.
The nineteen foreign buildings, each of which illustrated some classic
style of architecture--peculiar to the nation represented--constituted an
additional great feature of the Columbian Exposition. They gave the
visitor an adequate conception of the construction and luxurious equipment
of edifices abroad. In fact, on entering the buildings of Germany, France,
Great Britain, Spain, New South Wales, Ceylon, Canada, Sweden, Costa Rica,
Hayti, Guatemala, Japan, etc., we fancied ourselves to be suddenly
conveyed to these foreign countries.
With a few exceptions, all the forty-four States and five Territories of
the Union, had their share in the beautiful effect produced by their
structures, erected--at a considerable expense--of such material as
elucidated the prominent natural resources of the respective states. Many
of the edifices were modeled after buildings noted for some historical
event. Thus, the New York Building was a reproduction, slightly modified,
of the old Van Rensselaer residence, whose quaint architecture recalled a
most interesting period in our national history, when the great metropolis
of to-day was but a small sea-port town.
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