Page:The Pacific Monthly vol. 14.djvu/51



T has always seemed to the writer that the educational aspect of an exposition is of the greatest importance, and in view of this, the choice of a site for the Lewis and Clark Exposition was most fortunate and happy, and to those responsible for this selection, all credit is due. The arrangement of the block plan was well in keeping with the site, utilizing to the best advantage its beauties and environment. The object always in view, the preservation of the vista of the lower Willamette Valley, was never lost sight of, and firmly fixed the main axis of the plan in a general north and south direction; thus maintaining the fine water view in the immediate foreground, across which rises the beautiful green peninsula with its oak trees, and beyond, the Willamette, flowing between high, evergreen-clad hills. The good Judgment and foresight of the Exposition directors were evidenced by obtaining, during the early months of the Exposition, the services of the eminent landscape architects, Olmsted Brothers, a firm of national reputation. Mr. John C. Olmsted was engaged to visit the site and consult with the Directors of Works and Architecture, with the view of preparing a block plan, or general scheme, for the arrangement of the buildings and grounds. This plan, made two years ago, has been faithfully followed, with but few minor changes.

The Directors of the Exposition, after much discussion and the consideration of various methods pursued by other expositions, decided to appoint a supervising architect—whose title has since been changed to "Director of Architecture" — and a board of architects. To each member of the board was apportioned a building of the original main group. This apportionment was made by the architects amongst themselves, by drawing lots, the Director of Architecture to have general supervision of all the buildings and of the board of architects, that all might work in harmony and the result be not incongruous and inharmonious.

The decision of the board of architects, in the design of the buildings, to confine themselves to a free renaissance of the Spanish type, seemed most appropriate, in view of the discovery of the Oregon Coast by the early Spanish navigators. While this scheme was ultimately deviated from to a certain extent, it has been carried out in a construction similar to most of the