Home -> Paul Elder - > The Architecture and Landscape Gardening of the Exposition -> Court of Palms - Italian Tower from Main Portal | |||
Court of Palms
Italian Tower from Main Portal |
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Terminating the colonnade at either side of the entrance to the Court from the Avenue of Palms stand the Italian Towers, distinguished by their grace of line and proportion and their skill in the use of the purest architectural forms of the Renaissance, no less than by the charming manipulation of color and ornament. By their slenderness and by simplicity of treatment they produce an effect of great height. They were inspired by the Geralda Tower of Seville. The deep-toned columns of Sienna marble used in the three Italian Portals also enrich the entrance to the towers. The prevailing pink and blue color tones which dominate the court are delightfully accentuated in the diaper pattern decorating the rectangular wall spaces of the main portion of the towers. The upper design, repeated in each of the four corners, is modeled after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. The winged figure, "The Fairy," lightly and gracefully poised upon the topmost pinnacle, is by Carl Gruppe. | |||