Electric towers at Buffalo Pan-American Exposition, 1901

1 clue in this photo

1Repeated motif · whole photo

A skyline of ornate towers

The photo shows a cluster of ornate towers, each with stacked lanterns, arcades and finials. The record gives the Electric Tower as nearly 400 ft, lit by power from Niagara.

The questionWere towers like these power infrastructure first and decoration second?

Photo: Underhill, New York City · Public domain · via Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons

Buffalo 1901 Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

Repeated motif · Philadelphia 1876Medallions and arcades repeated down the naveWere these ornaments cast for 1876, or are they a standard pattern found in other halls of the era?

Repeated motif · Paris 1889The Trocadéro already standing through the archHow many of these 'temporary' fair palaces were left standing for the next fair, and what was there before 1878?

Repeated motif · Chicago 1893Erechtheion-style caryatid porchesWhy does the same classical vocabulary turn up fair after fair, city after city?

Repeated motif · Nashville 1897Greece and Egypt on one groundWhy do Greek and Egyptian forms keep turning up together at these fairs?

Repeated motif · Paris 1878The Trocadéro core reusedWhat is inside the Palais de Chaillot today?

Repeated motif · Paris 1878The long-hall formula againWhy does the same long-hall plan recur from city to city, and who held the pattern?

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