# Agriculture: a better starting shape for a very large hall

September 7, 2026. This is an exterior study; the exhibitions inside are not reconstructed yet.

Agriculture displayed farm machinery, crops, food products and equipment for processing them. Our earlier model was a broad rectangular block with generic decoration. The new outline follows more of the original walls, including the shallow projections at its ends, and adds a first raised central roof section. The long strip inside the insurance plan is labeled a roof monitor: it is not an open courtyard. [M006, sheet 16](https://data.library.wustl.edu/record/108214?ln=en), [B002, manual, printed page 14](https://archive.org/details/worldsfairmanual00jaco).

The height is still an interpretation. The insurance plan marks 56 feet at both ends, while the manual describes a central nave rising to 60 feet. We have used those readings for a plain two-level envelope. They do not tell us the height of every long-side wall or prove an exact four-foot roof rise. Glass, roof slopes, entrance arches and pylons need further study. [M006](https://data.library.wustl.edu/record/108214?ln=en), [B002, page 14](https://archive.org/details/worldsfairmanual00jaco).

## When the sources disagree

The manual gives dimensions of 1,600 by 500 feet. The official guide gives a width of 525 feet and also prints 23.4 acres; those guide figures do not agree arithmetically. The insurance plan labels 800,000 square feet. We fitted the building to the ground plan independently, then compared its roughly 795,000-square-foot footprint with that label. A close result is useful evidence, but it does not make the model a survey. We have kept the conflicting figures in the record. [B002, page 14](https://archive.org/details/worldsfairmanual00jaco), [B015, pages 85–87](https://archive.org/details/ajq5466.0001.001.umich.edu/page/n92/mode/1up), [M006](https://data.library.wustl.edu/record/108214?ln=en).

The two plans also face opposite ways. Checking the north arrow and neighboring Horticulture palace helped us turn the detailed drawing correctly before fitting it to the ground map. The four selected alignment points differ by about a metre at most. Small wall projections, different plan dates and line thickness still limit that apparent precision. [M001](https://www.loc.gov/item/2007633932/), [M006](https://data.library.wustl.edu/record/108214?ln=en).

## A photograph beside the model

The new comparison comes from a photograph reproduced in the 1904 Official Guide. It shows how much remains to be added, especially the windows and entrance profiles. Its camera has not been matched to the model, and the guide does not identify the photographer. Our small browser image retains the full illustrated page and caption, rotated for reading; no details were generated or restored. [P045, in B015, printed page 43](https://archive.org/details/ajq5466.0001.001.umich.edu/page/n50/mode/1up).

The existing colored postcard remains a separate source. It is a lithographic illustration, not a photographic record of the building's colors. The damaged installation plan records spaces for exhibits inside the hall; those divisions are not exterior buildings. [P014, Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2013646870/), [D012, St. Louis Public Library](https://cdm17210.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/lpe/id/5527/).

## How AI helped, and what we checked

Astra traced the main envelope, reconciled the source orientation and separated roof labels from interior-use notes. Luna prepared the photograph's source record. The coordinating agent inspected the maps, photograph and guide pages, built the geometry and corrected an unsupported image-processing claim in the initial handoff: the public image retains the whole page rather than extracting only a picture panel.

The new hall is checked against the full width of existing paths, neighboring buildings and water. Roof rays and walking checks compare the model with its collision boundaries; saved browser views check both ends, the long side and raised roof. Replacing the generic repeated decoration also makes this provisional model lighter. That is a useful simplification while the actual facade remains unresolved, not a claim that less detail finishes the building.

The source register keeps the page identifiers and University of Michigan contact route so a sharper scan or original photographic source can be sought later. No institution has been contacted or has endorsed this reconstruction. The next broad pass continues into the surrounding agricultural grounds.