"You see," said the architect as we started down the hill, "when the
Exposition builders began their work they found the setting of the
Mediterranean here. It justified them in reproducing the art of the
Orient and of Greece and Rome which was associated with it, modified of
course to meet the special requirements. Besides, they didn't want to be
tied down to the severe type of architecture in vogue in this country."
First of all, he went on to explain, they had created a playground.
There they appealed to the color sense, strong in the Italians and the
Orientals, and weak among the people in this country, decidedly in need
of fostering, and the appeal was not merely to the intellect, but to the
emotions as well. Color was as much a part of architecture as of
painting. So, in applying the color, Guerin worked with the architects.
He never made a plan without taking them into consultation. Then, too,
Calder, acting head of the Department of Sculpture, and Denneville, the
inventor of the particular kind of imitation Travertine marble used on
the grounds, were active in all the planning. In fact, very little was
done without the co-operation of Guerin, Calder, Denneville and Kelham,
chief of the Architectural Board. In getting the Exposition from paper
to reality, they had succeeded in making it seem to be the expression of
one mind. Even in the development of the planting the architects had
their say. Here landscape gardening was actually a part of the
architecture. Faville's wall, for example, was built with the
understanding that its bareness was to be relieved with masses of
foliage, creating shadows.
Before the Scott Street entrance we paused to admire the high hedge of
John McLaren. We went close to examine the texture. The leaves of the
African dewplant were so thick that they were beginning to hide the
lines between the boxes.
"Faville realized the importance of separating the city from the rest of
the world, making it sequestered. He knew that a fence wouldn't be the
right sort of thing. So he conceived the idea of having a high, thick
wall, modeled after an old English wall, overgrown with moss and ivy. As
those walls were generations in growing, he saw that to produce one in a
few months or even a few years required some ingenuity. He set to work
on the problem and he devised a scheme for making an imitation hedge by
planting ivy in deep boxes and piling the boxes on one another. When he
submitted it to McLaren he was told that it was good except for the use
of the ivy. It would be better to use African dew plant. Later McLaren
improved on the scheme by using shallow boxes.
"Faville designed a magnificent entrance here," the architect went on,
glancing up at the three modest arches that McLaren had tried to make as
attractive as possible with his hedge. "It would have been very
appropriate. But the need of keeping down expenses caused the idea to be
sacrificed. However, the loss was not serious. As a matter of fact, in
spite of the efforts of the Exposition to persuade visitors to come in
here, a great many preferred to enter by the Fillmore Street gate.
During the day this approach is decidedly the more attractive on account
of leading directly into the gardens and into the approach to the court.
The Fillmore Street entrance, with the Zone shrieking at you at one
side, hardly puts you in the mood for the beauty in the courts. At night
the situation is somewhat different. The flaring lights of the Zone make
the dimness of the court all the more attractive."