The City of Domes | Page 8

works became responsible for the purchase of all the
lumber to be used in building. It was bought wholesale, shipped from
the sawmills and delivered to the sites. So there was a big saving here,
through the buying in bulk and through reduced cost in handling and
hauling. The first contracts given out were for the construction of the
palaces. An estimate was made of the exact number of feet available for
exhibits and charts were prepared to keep a close record on the progress
of the work. Incidentally, other means of watching progress consisted
of the amounts paid out each month. During the earlier months the
expenditures went on at the rate of a million a month. Every three
weeks a contract for a building would be given out. The same
contractors figured on each building. From the start it was understood
that the work should be done by union men. The chief exceptions were
the Chinese and the Japanese. The exhibitors had the privilege of
bringing their own men. In all about five thousand men were employed,
working either eight or nine hours a day. During the progress of the
work there were few labor troubles.
One wise feature of the planning lay in the economy of space. It
succeeded in reaching a compactness that made for convenience
without leading to overcrowding. Great as this Exposition was to be, in

its range worthy to be included among the expositions of the first class,
it should not weary the visitors by making them walk long distances
from point to point. In spite of its magnitude, it should have a kind of
intimacy.

Choice of Material

There were certain dangers that the builders of the Exposition had to
face. One of the most serious was that buildings erected for temporary
use only might look tawdry. It was, of course, impracticable to use
stone. The cost would have been prohibitive, and plaster might have
made the gorgeous palaces hardly more than cheap mockeries.
Under the circumstances it was felt that some new material must be
devised to meet the requirements. Already Paul E. Denneville had been
successful in working with material made in imitation of Travertine
marble, used in many of the ancient buildings of Rome, very beautiful
in texture and peculiarly suited to the kind of building that needed color.
He it was who had used the material in the Pennsylvania Station, New
York, in the upper part of the walls. After a good deal of experimenting
Denneville had found that for his purpose gypsum rock was most
serviceable. On being ground and colored it could be used as a plaster
and made to seem in texture so close to Travertine marble as to be
almost indistinguishable. The results perfectly justified his faith. As the
palaces rose from the ground, making a magnificent walled city, they
looked solid and they looked old and they had distinct character.
Moreover, through having the color in the texture, they would not show
broken and ragged surfaces.

The Color Scheme

For the color-effects it was felt that just the right man must be found or

the result would be disastrous. The choice fell on Jules Guerin, long
accepted as one of the finest colorists among the painters of his time.
He followed the guidance of the natural conditions surrounding the
Exposition, the hues of the sky and the bay, of the mountains, varying
from deep green to tawny yellow, and of the morning and evening light.
And he worked, too, with an eye on those effects of illumination that
should make the scene fairyland by night, utilizing even the tones of
the fog.

The Planting

There was no difficulty in finding a man best suited to plan the garden
that was to serve as the Exposition's setting. For many years John
McLaren had been known as one of the most distinguished
horticulturists in this part of the world. As superintendent of Golden
Gate Park he had given fine service. Moreover, he was familiar with
the conditions and understood the resources and the possibilities. Of
course a California exposition had to maintain California's reputation
for natural beauty. It must be placed in on ideal garden, representing
the marvelous endowment of the State in trees and shrubs and plants
and flowers and showing what the climate could do even with alien
growths.
The first step that McLaren took was to consult the architects. They
explained to him the court plan that they had agreed on and they gave
him the dimensions of their buildings. Against walls sixty feet high he
planned to place trees that should reach nearly to the top. For his
purpose he found four kinds of trees most serviceable: the eucalyptus,
the cypress, the acacia and the spruce. In