Idaho Building (Chicago World's Fair)

Last updated
Idaho Building Idaho State Building at World's Columbian Exposition 1893 Kirtland Cutter.jpg
Idaho Building

The Idaho Building for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair was a rustic-design log construction designed by architect Kirtland Cutter. It was a popular favorite, [1] visited by an estimated 18 million people. The building's design and interior furnishings were a major precursor of the Arts and Crafts movement. [2] The structure stood on the extreme north line of Jackson Park, over a mile and a half from the Forestry Building, which it recalled.

Contents

Construction

It was built entirely of native materials consisting of a log house on a foundation or basement of lava and basaltic rock. The timbers were from young cedar trees, stuffed and stained to reproduce the effects of age.

The shakes on the roof were held in place with heavy rocks and withstood the great Chicago gales. The arched stone entrance seen in the picture opened into a large room, at the end of which was a stick fireplace with a log mantel. Stairways led to the second floor, where the windows were glazed with mica. This floor had divided accommodations for men and women. Each room was decorated with a view of recalling mining scenes to the experienced persons who should enter. The men's fireplace was made of lava rock, and the andirons were made of bear traps and fish spears, while arrows, spears, tomahawks, and other Native American implements were typified in the furniture.

It was later purchased to be used as a summer residence near a Northern resort.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World's Columbian Exposition</span> Worlds Fair held in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. in 1893

The World's Columbian Exposition was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, held in Jackson Park, was a large water pool representing the voyage Columbus took to the New World. Chicago had won the right to host the fair over several other cities, including New York City, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. The exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on American architecture, the arts, American industrial optimism, and Chicago's image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Nouveau</span> 1890–1911 European style of art and architecture

Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: Jugendstil in German, Stile Liberty in Italian, Modernisme in Catalan, and also known as the Modern Style in English. It was popular between 1890 and 1910 during the Belle Époque period, and was a reaction against the academic art, eclecticism and historicism of 19th century architecture and decoration. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and flowers. Other characteristics of Art Nouveau were a sense of dynamism and movement, often given by asymmetry or whiplash lines, and the use of modern materials, particularly iron, glass, ceramics and later concrete, to create unusual forms and larger open spaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jugendstil</span> Artistic movement; German equivalent of Art Nouveau

Jugendstil was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of Art Nouveau. The members of the movement were reacting against the historicism and neo-classicism of the official art and architecture academies. It took its name from the art journal Jugend, founded by the German artist Georg Hirth. It was especially active in the graphic arts and interior decoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Horta</span> Belgian architect and designer

Victor Pierre Horta was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels, built in 1892–93, is often considered the first Art Nouveau house. The curving stylized vegetal forms that Horta used influenced many others, including architect Hector Guimard, who used it in the first house he designed in Paris and in the entrances he designed for the Paris Metro. He is also considered a precursor of modern architecture for his open floor plans and his innovative use of iron, steel and glass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willits House</span> Historic house in Illinois, United States

The Ward W. Willits House is a building designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Designed in 1901, the Willits house is considered one of the first of the great Prairie School houses. Built in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, the house presents a symmetrical facade to the street. One of the more interesting points about the house is Wright's ability to seamlessly combine architecture with nature. The plan is a cruciate with four wings extending out from a central fireplace. In addition to stained-glass windows and wooden screens that divide rooms, Wright also designed the furniture for the house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustav Stickley</span>

Gustav Stickley was an American furniture manufacturer, design leader, publisher, and a leading voice in the American Arts and Crafts movement. Stickley's design philosophy was a major influence on American Craftsman architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Colter</span> American architect (1869–1958)

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was an American architect and designer. She was one of the very few female American architects in her day. She was the designer of many landmark buildings and spaces for the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railroad, notably in Grand Canyon National Park. Her work had enormous influence as she helped to create a style, blending Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival architecture with Native American motifs and Rustic elements, that became popular throughout the Southwest. Colter was a perfectionist, who spent a lifetime advocating and defending her aesthetic vision in a largely male-dominated field.

Kirtland Kelsey Cutter was a 20th-century architect in the Pacific Northwest and California. He was born in East Rockport, Ohio, the great-grandson of Jared Potter Kirtland. He studied painting and illustration at the Art Students League of New York. At the age of 26 he moved to Spokane, Washington, and began working as a banker for his uncle. By the 1920s Cutter had designed several hundred buildings that established Spokane as a place rivaling Seattle and Portland, Oregon in its architectural quality. Most of Cutter's work is listed in State and National Registers of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Tower House</span> Late-Victorian townhouse in London, England

The Tower House, 29 Melbury Road, is a late-Victorian townhouse in the Holland Park district of Kensington and Chelsea, London, built by the architect and designer William Burges as his home. Designed between 1875 and 1881, in the French Gothic Revival style, it was described by the architectural historian J. Mordaunt Crook as "the most complete example of a medieval secular interior produced by the Gothic Revival, and the last". The house is built of red brick, with Bath stone dressings and green roof slates from Cumbria, and has a distinctive cylindrical tower and conical roof. The ground floor contains a drawing room, a dining room and a library, while the first floor has two bedrooms and an armoury. Its exterior and the interior echo elements of Burges's earlier work, particularly Park House in Cardiff and Castell Coch. It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Home Place, Kelling</span> House in Kelling, Norfolk, England

Home Place, also called Voewood, is an Arts and Crafts style house in High Kelling, near Holt, Norfolk, England, designed (1903–5) by Edward Schroeder Prior. It is a Grade II* listed building. The gardens, also designed by Prior, are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winterbourne Botanic Garden</span> Botanic garden in Edgbaston, Birmingham

Winterbourne Botanic Garden is a heritage site and botanic garden in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It is owned by the University of Birmingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madlener House</span> Historic house in Illinois, United States

The Madlener House, also known as the Albert F. Madlener House, is a 20th-century mansion located in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is the work of architect Richard E. Schmidt (1865-1958) and designer Hugh M.G. Garden (1873-1961). Commissioned in 1901 and completed in 1902, the house was built as the residence for Albert Fridolin Madlener, a German-American brewery owner, and his wife, Elsa Seipp Madlener. Since 1963, it has been the headquarters of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. In 1970, The Madlener House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1973, it came under the protection of a Chicago ordinance protecting the city's historical and architectural landmarks. The house was fully remodeled and renovated by architect Daniel Brenner (1917-1977) in 1963–64.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crater Lake Superintendent's Residence</span> Historic house in Oregon, United States

Crater Lake Superintendent's Residence, is "an impressive structure of massive boulders and heavy-handed woodwork" at Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987 as an important example of 1930s National Park Service Rustic architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Faithful Historic District</span> Historic district in Wyoming, United States

The Old Faithful Historic District in Yellowstone National Park comprises the built-up portion of the Upper Geyser Basin surrounding the Old Faithful Inn and Old Faithful Geyser. It includes the Old Faithful Inn, designed by Robert Reamer and is itself a National Historic Landmark, the upper and lower Hamilton's Stores, the Old Faithful Lodge, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, and a variety of supporting buildings. The Old Faithful Historic District itself lies on the 140-mile Grand Loop Road Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don M Stromquist House</span> House in Bountiful, Utah

The Don M. Stromquist House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located on a ten-acre site in Bountiful, Utah. At an altitude of 6,000 feet (1,800 m), it consists of the main house, an office/laboratory/garage annex, a gardener's shed and a barn. It is sited halfway down an arroyo or canyon wall. The house has an endless view of the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Majorelle</span>

The Villa Majorelle is a house located at 1 rue Louis-Majorielle in the city of Nancy, France, which was the home and studio of the furniture designer Louis Majorelle. It was designed and built by the architect Henri Sauvage in 1901-1902. The villa is one of the first and most influential examples of the Art Nouveau architectural style in France. It served as a showcase for Majorelle's furniture and the work of other noted decorative artists of the period, including ceramist Alexandre Bigot and stained glass artist Jacques Gruber. It is now owned by the city of Nancy, and is open to the public certain days for tours by reservation.

<i>The English House</i> Architectural book about England

The English House is a book of design and architectural history written by German architect Hermann Muthesius and first published in German as Das englische Haus in 1904. Its three volumes provide a record of the revival of English domestic architecture during the later part of the nineteenth century. The main themes he discusses are history, form and decor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Nouveau furniture</span> Furniture style, 1890s to 1914

Furniture created in the Art Nouveau style was prominent from the beginning of the 1890s to the beginning of the First World War in 1914. It characteristically used forms based on nature, such as vines, flowers and water lilies, and featured curving and undulating lines, sometimes known as the whiplash line, both in the form and the decoration. Other common characteristics were asymmetry and polychromy, achieved by inlaying different colored woods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idaho Building (1904)</span> Historic building formerly in St. Louis Missouri

The Idaho Building at the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904 was a 1-story hacienda designed by architect J. Flood Walker. The building was smallest among the state building exhibits, yet it made a lasting impression on fairgoers. The architect received over 300 requests for architectural drawings of the building in 1904, and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat said of the building, "This is the ideal ranch house that the St. Louis exposition has created, and if remembered for nothing else by western people, the world's fair will always be recalled by the constantly growing number of houses constructed after the fashion of Idaho's pretty building."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boise Public Library</span> Public library system in Idaho, United States

The Boise Public Library is a public library system in Boise, Idaho, that includes a main library at 715 South Capitol Boulevard and four branch libraries within the city.

References

  1. Arksey, Laura (2009-03-23). "the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History". HistoryLink.org. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  2. "Arts & Crafts Movement Furniture". Burrows.com. Retrieved 2014-02-18.

Furniture designs for the Idaho Building are archived at the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise, Idaho.

Coordinates: 41°47′35.4″N87°34′58.2″W / 41.793167°N 87.582833°W / 41.793167; -87.582833