The Transportation Building

"The Golden Door of the Transportation Building, erected on the southwestern bank of the lagoon which surrounds the wooded island. This structure was remarkable in the group of greater buildings through the fact that its architects, the Chicago firm of Adler and Sullivan, have painted the exterior with various colors, mainly red, while the other enclosures were white. Beginning at the base with a light, delicate red, the polychrome treatment culminates in the golden doorway and the spandrels of the arches, in the centre of which are winged female figures, typical of transportation methods. The trains of cars and the locomotives stood on tracks that ran into the annex from the rear" (The Book of the Fair).

   
The angels which are seen on the facades were cut in linen, and glued to the exterior.

"The golden doorway" is enclosed by a fretted arch or series of arches resplendent with gilding, and with a chaste embroidery of bas-reliefs and arabesques. Around this portal are symbolic groups representing ancient modes of transportation as contrasted with the luxuries of modern travel. On either side are balconies and terraces, the latter with small kiosks, somewhat in the Mogul style of architecture. The expanse of frontage is further relieved by smaller doorways on either side of the more spacious entrance, and by allegorical figures representing the purposes of the building.

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