Woman's Building (Chicago)
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As The Woman's Building (translated The woman's building ) was designated a large exhibition hall, the Sophia Hayden for the World's Fair World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago had designed. It was the first exhibition building designed by an architect . Women were not allowed to take part in the jury.
history
The first women's pavilion was built in 1876 for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia . November 7th was chosen to be “Women's Day”. They were supposed to attend mass while the men cast their ballots on election day . The angry suffragettes then boycotted the mass.
The entire participation of women at the Chicago fair was overseen by a board of directors, the Board of Lady Managers . This governing body, the first of its kind, had authority over all decisions relating to the women's pavilion. The president was Bertha Honoré Palmer (also Mrs. Potter Palmer ) from Chicago. The board included women from all over the United States, two women from each state and territory, and nine from the fair city.
However, the Board of Lady Managers was denied a say in the selection of the architect. This decision was made by a group of men who had to choose from among the designs submitted in 1891 by fourteen distinguished women. None of the architects was older than 25 years. The design was chosen by Sophia G. Hayden, who had just graduated from the School of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston .
At a cost of the building, which at nearly 150,000 dollars were, Hayden received only a fee of 1,000 dollars for their design. At that time, your male colleagues received a multiple for comparable plans.
The building was inaugurated on May 1st, 1893 and, like all buildings of the world exhibition, demolished after a few years. A women's congress was held in the Woman's Building during the exhibition. Lady Ishbel Aberdeen spoke about “Encouragement of Home Industries”, Kate Marsden about leprosy .
description
Hayden's design combined Greek classicism with Italian Renaissance . The Woman's Building was 118 meters long and 61 meters wide. The long side of the building was erected on a " lagoon ". It was laid out strictly symmetrically. The building could be reached from the water via two wide stairs and a terrace. Elongated loggias connected to the main entrances in the east and west and ended at the side pavilions. The open loggias were designed as arcades with slender columns and round arches. There were open balconies above them .
On the second floor there was an open colonnade over the main entrances , which was crowned by a flat triangular gable. These gables were accentuated with bas-relief . "Hanging gardens" were laid out on the corner pavilions. The entrances led through a lobby or the English pavilion into a vaulted hall. This was called " Rotunda ", but was laid out rectangular. It was about 59 meters long, extended the entire height of the building and was crowned by an ornate skylight . This could not be recognized as such from the outside. The hall was surrounded by a two-story open arcade.
In order to efficiently use the available space inside, every centimeter of the available space was used for different displays. The individual countries exhibited arts, crafts and handicrafts in the side pavilions. Paintings were hung in the rotunda. Three small rooms were provided for the science and inventions area . On the first floor there were models of a hospital and a kindergarten. In addition to an information office with post and telephone, there were also two sales rooms. The second floor contained a library, a ladies' salon, committee rooms, changing rooms and rooms for files, and in the north pavilion there was a large assembly room with a stage for speakers and a model kitchen. A club room and offices for the board and the president were set up in the upper area of the south pavilion.
Alice Rideout, Enid Yandell , who made the caryatids , and Mary Lawrence Tonetti worked on the sculptural decoration of the building . The latter two belonged to the group of " White Rabbits ". Mary Cassatt and Mary Fairchild Low each made a large mural for the main hall.
exhibition
The exhibiting artists included Louise Abbéma and Camille Isbert from France. Hanna Bieber-Böhm , Molly Cramer and Elisabeth Strempel exhibited their works in the German departments of the Woman's Building . Vilma Parlaghy showed a self-portrait, Maria Lübbes exhibited an oil painting of a thoughtful girl doing kitchen work. The Lette-Verein , Luise Jacob and a number of women presented handicrafts. Elisabeth Gnauck-Kühne provided information with statistics . Princess Friedrich Karl (1837–1906) took over the patronage of the German participation . Women from the UK were also represented with carpentry work .
Web links
literature
- Paul Greenhalgh: “Women. Exhibiting and Exhibited. " Ephemeral vistas. The Expositions Universelle, Great Exhibitions, And World's Fairs, 1851–1939. Manchester University Press, Manchester (UK), 1988. pp. 174-195.
Footnotes
- ↑ According to the building plans and photographs, the dimensions of 21 meters long and 20 meters wide cannot apply.
Coordinates: 41 ° 47 ′ 13.6 " N , 87 ° 35 ′ 8.2" W.