Festival Hall closed the east end of the South Gardens and faced west across the pools to the Palace of Horticulture, its green dome and cupolas answering the other building's glass bubble. The Official Guide compared it to the Théâtre des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Todd put it more plainly: a 'large and properly festive sort of structure in the French theatrical style, giving the impression of being all portals and foyers and audience hall, as in the main it was.' It was not an exhibit palace but the fair's principal auditorium.
Its heart was an organ built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, which the Guide listed at about 7,000 pipes and 113 speaking stops on four manuals. Todd called it the 'forty-thousand-dollar organ.' Edwin H. Lemare of London was engaged for 100 noon recitals, and other organists filled the days he did not play. An echo organ hung inside the dome from the ring truss, balanced by a box of sand on the opposite side.
The hall was booked through the whole season. The Boston Symphony under Karl Muck, four concerts by Camille Saint-Saëns, massed band concerts, the Chicago Apollo Club, the Ogden Tabernacle Choir and Loie Fuller's dancers are all on the Guide's program. The hall was built to seat 2,800, and a short experience of the season showed that was not enough, so galleries were added. John D. Barry's architect-companion remarked that the acoustics turned out badly and the interior had to be remodeled.
The building was always meant to lose its organ. The instrument was a working exhibit, earmarked from the start for the city's new Exposition Auditorium in the Civic Center, where it was installed and dedicated by Lemare on April 8, 1917.
A large and properly festive sort of structure in the French theatrical style, giving the impression of being all portals and foyers and audience hall, as in the main it was.
Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. 2 (1921), ch. LI
At a glance
- Cost: $276,968 (Todd vol. 2); about $277,000 (Todd vol. 5); $270,000 (Official Guide; Condensed Facts).
- The dome's four ribs over the great east and west arched openings rested on two trusses spanning 77 ft (Todd vol. 2, ch. V).
- During construction a central tower was raised from the floor to carry the ring truss, then eased off with wedges and jacks (Todd vol. 2).
- Condensed Facts called the organ 'seventh in size in the world'; the Official Guide called it the second largest in America.
- McLeran & Peterson were the general contractors (Todd vol. 2); general construction was filed in May 1914.
- After closing day the Traffic Department and the Department of Customs and Deliveries ran the exhibit exodus from offices in Festival Hall (Todd vol. 5).
- A great bank of hydrangeas grew on its north side and one of marguerites on its south (Todd vol. 2, ch. LXII).
Afterward
The organ went to the Exposition Auditorium (today's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium) and was dedicated there in 1917. The hall was one of the major buildings the exposition chose to sell as it stood for salvage in 1916, and it was demolished (Todd vol. 5). The site lies under today's Marina District.
The site today
Present-day photographs and video of this spot are being made for the film; each frame below is a slot for one of them.
Pierce St between Chestnut and Francisco (about here), looking west down the line of the gardens
Have a photo of this spot? Email it to hello@288days.com with code S18 and up to 50 characters of credit. It appears here and in the film.
Sources
- Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. 2, ch. V (dome structure), ch. LI, ch. LVI (221-ft lantern), ch. I (seating, cost)
- Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. 5, chs. XXXV–XXXVII (organ removal, salvage)
- Official Guide of the PPIE (1915), Festival Hall; Music at the Exposition
- Condensed Facts concerning the PPIE (1915), Festival Hall; area table
- Barry, The City of Domes (1915), ch. XII (acoustics)