The New York State Building was the first State building on the Esplanade west of the California Building. Designed by Charles B. Meyers, it was a modern classical building in the Exposition's 'travertine', with broad porches and large Corinthian and Ionic columns. A garden of flowers and trees from New York surrounded it. It covered 77 by 248 feet. Todd says three stories; the Official Guide says four, with one floor of living rooms for the State Commission.
It held no exhibits. It was a clubhouse, with a café and large dining hall, writing and retiring rooms and a post office. The two-story assembly room, 53 by 77 feet, had a minstrel gallery at one end and an organ loft at the other. A clock in the vestibule showed New York time. Some 20,000 people visited it on Opening Day, and Mrs. William Randolph Hearst was its official hostess.
A clock in the vestibule reminded Eastern visitors how broad our country is, by giving New York time.
Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. III (1921), p. 327
At a glance
- Covered 77 by 248 feet; assembly room 53 by 77 feet.
- Construction $219,848; equipment $32,564; New York's net cost of participation $640,236 (appropriation $700,000).
- Dedicated March 19, 1915 (Todd, ch. LVIII; another chapter says March 1).
- Site taken over on Thanksgiving Day, 1912.
Afterward
Not recorded; presumably auctioned and wrecked with most State buildings (Todd V, p. 246).
Sources
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. III (1921), ch. LVIII, p. 316
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. III (1921), ch. LX, pp. 327-330
- Official Guide of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915), p. 58
- Condensed Facts Concerning the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915), state appropriation table