THE MANUFACTURES AND LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING.

     NOTABLE for its symmetrical proportions, the MANUFACTURES AND LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING is the mammoth structure of the Exposition. It measures 1,688 by 788 feet and covers more than 31 acres, being the largest Exposition building ever constructed. Within the building a gallery 50 feet wide extends around all four sides adding more than eight acres to the floor space available for exhibits, and making it 40 acres in all. Projecting from this gallery are 86 smaller galleries, 12 feet wide, from which visitors may survey the vast array of exhibits and the busy scene below. "Columbia Avenue," 50 feet wide extends through the mammoth building longitudinally and an Avenue of like width crosses it at right angles at the center. The main roof is of iron and glass and arches an area 385 by 1,400 feet and has its ridge 150 feet from the ground.

     The LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING is in the Corinthian style of architecture and in point of being severely classic, excels nearly all of the other edifices. The long array of columns and arches, which its facades present, is relieved from monotony by very elaborate ornamentation. In this ornamentation female figures, symbolical of the various arts and sciences, play a conspicuous and very attractive part.

     Designs showing in relief the seals of the different States of the Union and of various Foreign Nations also appear in the ornamentation. These, of course, are gigantic in their proportions. The AGRICULTURAL BUILDING perhaps is the only one which has a more elaborately ornamental exterior than has this colossal structure.

     The exterior of the building is covered with" staff," which is treated to represent marble. The huge fluted columns and the immense arches are apparently of this beautiful material. The grand entrances at the corners of the building and midway at the sides consist of lofty arches in piers of elaborate design and ornamentation. There are numerous other entrances less imposing.

     The architect of this gigantic building, GEORGE B. POST, of New York, has been remarkably successful in giving architectural symmetry and effectiveness to the immense proportions with which he had to deal and his work stands as one of the marvels of the Exposition.

     The building occupies a most conspicuous place in the Grounds. It faces the Lake, with only lawns and promenades between. North of it is the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BUILDING, south the Harbor and in-jutting Lagoon, and west the ELECTRICAL BUILDING and the Lagoon separating it from the Wooded Island.