The postcard above shows four of the major buildings of the Century of Progress International Exposition that was held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934. These buildings were all temporary structures with plane surfaces and without windows--less architecture than stage setting.
In 1933, a palette of 25 bold colors was used to to tie the buildings together and serve as backgrounds. The postcards below give an idea of how the buildings were painted in 1933. In 1934, the second year of the fair, the color palette was more subdued, with much more white.
|Beautiful, colorful, immense in its ground area. The Hall of Science at A Century of Progress, Chicago's 1933 World's Fair, probably houses the most fascinating exhibits on the grounds of the Exposition.|
|A water view of the Electrical Group at A Century of Progress, Chicago. Within these flaming walls the marvels of this electrical age are presented in fascinating exhibits that dramatize progress since Pascal, Morse, Edison and Marconi.|
|The Travel and Transport Building Some is 125 feet high and 200 feet across, without a single arch, pillar, beam or other support to break its expanse. It is said to be the largest unobstructed area to be enclosed beneath a single roof.|
|The Federal Building is 620 feet long by 300 feet wide, with a rotunda 70 feet in diameter surmounted by a 75-foot dome around which the three fluted towers are grouped. The Federal Building adjoins the Hall of the States.|
I have a large collection of Century of Progress postcards. I originally became interested in collecting them because my parents had worked at the fair. Below is a photo of my father who worked in the lagoon patrol. The Federal Government Building is in the background.
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