Item Info

Series: Lithograph
Media Type: Lithographs
Notes: "Department zur Bequemlichkeit des Publikums, Pavillon pour les besoins publics, telegraphie &c."
Notes:

Lthograph Caption:

The thoughtful attention which the Centennial authorities have given to the subjects entrusted to them cannot be more remarkably shown than in the circumstances connected with the erection of the House of Public Comfort. The proper ordering of the sizes, shapes and objects of the Exhibition Buildings is within the ordinary and expected jurisdiction of the managers, but the Department of Public Comfort might never have been originated, and no visitor or exhibitor would have thought of the necessity of anything of the kind. Yet to the stranger who learns that there is such as establishment scarcely any other information could be more welcome. The House of Public Comfort is a place where every one will find the means of individual accommodation. It is furnished with wash-rooms for ladies and gentlemen, reception-rooms, parlors and resting-places, hair-dressing and barber shops and baths, boot-blacking and brushing conveniences, rooms and desks for writing, with paper and postage stamps, newspaper and magazine stands. It receives, keeps and restores portmanteaus, packages, bundles and lunch-baskets. It takes care of umbrellas and furnishes them for use in case of sudden rain. It is supplied with messenger-boys and has connection with the telegraph. It may be a place of reunion for visitors who wish to go different ways. To crown all, it will furnish the weary traveler with lunch and refreshments. There is scarcely a want which a visitor to the Exhibition may have that cannot be accommodated at this Comfort House; and as the idea of the establishment did not arise from private speculation, but was really an object of the Commission for the relief of visitors, the official management deserves thanks for the origination of such a happy idea. The House of Public Comfort occupies a solid square of ground 100 x 100 feet. The front shows a central building of two stories in height, the upper one being a roofed gallery, affording shade and a fine view of the busy scenes on the Centennial grounds. A little square steeple with pointed roof adjoins it. The main building is united by wings on the east and west to two side buildings. That upon the east is occupied by the general telegraph department and the American District Telegraph. The western section is occupied as an office of the U. S. Centennial Commission. Those who understand, know that the House of Public Comfort is one of the most useful on the grounds, and that the title is no misnomer. The builders were Balderston and Hutton of Philadelphia, by special contract with the Centennial Commission. The establishment is under the superintendence of W. Marsh Kasson.

Notes: 1 lithograph; 12 x 22 cm.
Notes: Builders: Balderston and Hutton.
Notes: Removed from: Centennial portfolio / Thompson Westcott. Philadelphia : T. Hunter, 1876.
Notes: The Building, situated in a grassy field, with trees in the background and people strolling in the foreground.
Creator Name: Westcott, Thompson. Centennial portfolio.
Thomas Hunter, lithographer.