Idaho Building
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Designed by architect Kirtland Cutter for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the Idaho Building was a rustic-design log construction. It was a popular favorite [1], visited by an estimated 18 million people. [2] The building's design and interior furnishings were a major precursor of the Arts and Crafts movement.
The picturesque structure stood on the extreme north line of Jackson Park, over a mile and a half from the Forestry Building, which it recalled. It was built entirely of native materials and was a log house on a foundation or basement of lava and basaltic rock. The timbers were from young cedar trees, stuffed and stained to reproduce the effects of age, and the posture of its lower and upper balcony, together with millions of logs upholding a projecting roof, secured for it, by general consent, the name of being the handsomest log house ever erected. It was, in fact, purchased at a good price, to be hereafter used as a summer residence near a Northern resort, where its celebrated chimney-corner will repeat its conquests of 1893. The shakes on the roof were held in place with heavy rocks and withstood the great Chicago gales. The arched stone entrance seen in the picture opened into a large room, at the end of which was a stick fireplace with a log mantel. Stairways led to the second floor, where the windows were glazed with mica. This floor was divided between the men and women, and each room was decorated with a view of recalling mining scenes to the experienced persons who should enter. The men's fireplace was made of lava rock, and the andirons were made of bear traps and fish spears, while arrows, spears, tomahawks, and other Indian appurtenances were typified in the furniture.
[edit] References
Furniture designs for the Idaho Building are archived at the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise, Idaho.
