Board of Lady Managers
| File:Board of Lady Managers.jpg | |
| Location | Washington University |
|---|---|
| No. of Buildings | 1 |
| Architecture | |
| Architect | Cope & Stewardson, of Philadelphia and St. Louis |
| Dimensions | 191' 68' |
The Physics building of the Washington University plant constituted the Board of Lady Managers building at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Description
The structure extended directly west from the Library building, although it joins the Library building directly, it is a distinct individual architectural composition. Like the rest of the University buildings, it is a permanent structure, built of red hammer-faced Missouri granite laid in broken ranges, and its decorations are of Bedford cut-stone.
The building has two long fronts, each perfectly developed by the architects. Two projecting bays, located at equal distances from the ends of the building and surmounted by an ornamental gable, break up the façade. The ornamentation is massed at the entrances, which are placed at the extreme eastern and western ends of the structure. A beautiful Gothic arch in cut-stone surmounts each of these entrances, and above the arch is a highly ornate oriel window surmounted by battlements. Downspouts of hammered copper enriched with University monogram and clusters of Elizabethan chimneys form effective points on the building.
The interior arrangement of the structure was left to the Board of Lady Managers. The building included four rooms, each 105 feet long by 18 feet wide. Apartments 25 by 29 feet in each of the bays mentioned above were equipped as lecture rooms, and were used effectively for a variety of purposes.
Duties of the Board of Lady Managers
The Board of Lady Managers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was organized along lines similar to those governing the Board of Lady Managers at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, ten years before. The latter body, the first of its kind of record, had placed in its hands all the interests of women in connection with the world 's fair. The same rule applied at St. Louis. Extensive social duties fell upon its members, as well as the routine duties of promoting woman 's work at the fair. Mrs. James L. Blair was first named as president. When the tragic turn in her husband's affairs came like a blighting fall upon her life, she withdrew and was succeeded by Mrs. Daniel Manning.
The official badge for members of the Board of Lady Managers consisted of an eagle surmounting a globe on which was engraved L. P. E. They bore a medallion relief of Napoleon, Livingston and Jefferson, with their name and date, 1803-1903, in a wreath. Board Lady Managers was engraved on the scroll tying the wreath.
