University of Virginia Library

THE AGRICULTURAL BUILDING.

With low roof, constructed principally of glass, the Agricultural Building suggests the purpose for which it is intended. So far from being simple in design, however, it ranks next to the Administration Building as the most elaborate structure in the grounds. Its position, too, is most fortunate, occupying space on the opposite side of and fronting the grand basin from the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building and shows the important consideration given America's greatest industry. The style of architecture is strictly classic. Tilt building has floor space of nine acres, and rises in one bold story, whose general cornice line is sixty-five feet above the ground.

At the main entrance art mammouth Corinthian columns fifty feet high and five feet in diameter. Passing these, one enters the vestibule, from which entrance is had to the rotunda, one hundred feet in diameter, beneath the central pavilion, which is one hundred and forty-four feet square. This is surmounted by a glass dome one hundred and thirty feet high. In addition to this central pavilion, there are others whose domes rise ninety-six feet high at the four corners of tile building, each of which covers a minor entrance, but which are dwarfed by the glory of the center. The vestibule within the main entrance is filled with statuary, specially designed to illustrate the agricultural industry, and similar designs are grouped about the corner entrances in the most elaborate manner. Above each of the corner pavilions are groups of three female figures of gigantic proportions, supporting a mammouth globe.

Near by art the Forestry and Dairy Building, the saw mills and stock pens, so that the visitor from the farm or the plantation will find himself amid congenial surroundings and may well be proud of tile distinction given his calling.