Home -> Paul Elder - > The Architecture and Landscape Gardening of the Exposition -> Palace of Fine Arts - In the Peristyle Walk

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Palace of Fine Arts
In the Peristyle Walk

Palace of Fine Arts - In the Peristyle Walk

Between the Palace of Fine Arts itself and its bordering colonnade of massive Corinthian columns runs a broad promenade which, while binding the two together, receives a sense of freedom and serenity from the open sky above.

The wall of the gallery is interrupted only by the simple entrances at intervals. It is low and intimate in comparison with the great proportions of the other exhibit palaces and its height is further broken by a terrace midway, set with growing plants and shrubs. The whole effect desired by the architect is of an ancient ruin, overgrown through the centuries with vegetation. Along the edge of the roof runs a latticed Pompeiian pergola, hung with trailing vines, and the wall of the building is colored a deep pompeiian red.

The immense flower urns, banded with classic figures in deep relief, bearing heavy swinging garlands, are by Ulric H. Ellerhusen. Alternating with the massed green of shrubs and plants against the wall are niches holding sculptured groups. The Roman urns which crown the square pillars marking the doors and which, in varying size, are repeated here and there about the building, are by William G. Merchant.

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