Pylons of Triumphal Causeway¹

BY JOHN M. CARRÈRE
of Carrère and Hastings

THE architectural purpose of the Triumphal Causeway is to balance the Electric Tower and to establish an entrance-portal to the great courts of the Exposition proper. As a gateway from the natural landscape of the park into the formal scheme of the Exposition it was desirable that it should have both the elements of dignity and exposition gaiety. The four Pylons are monumental in size, being 40 by 50 feet, and in color suggest stone. From the water-level to the base of the equestrian figures it is 116 feet. The avenue between them is 140 feet wide, the center line of which is the main axis of the Exposition, with the Electric Tower at one end and the statue of General Washington at the other. The sculpture which decorates the Pylons carries out the idea of national power and glory welcoming the world to the Exposition. The garlands of shields and the colored flags which festoon them lend an air of gaiety, and subtly suggest the idea of the draw-bridge leading from the natural outer park to the beauties in the creation of which man has been the chief factor.

References

1.Text quoted directly from the Art Hand-Book, Official Handbook of Architecture and Sculpture and Art Catalogue to the Pan-American Exposition. Ed. David Gray. Buffalo, N.Y.: David Gray, 1901. Sources of the images are noted with each.

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