The Art Palace, Columbian Exposition. THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, To commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, will be held on the shore of Lake Michigan, in the City of Chicago, and will be opened on the first day of May, 1893, and closed on the 30th day of October following. Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance the Exposition site are in the southeastern part of Chicago, and embrace 666 acres, with a frontage of about a mile and a half on Lake Michigan. Forty-five miles of boulevard connect the site with the general park system, which embraces fifteen or more parks, aggregating 2,000 acres. ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. The Administration Building is pronounced the gem and crown of the Exposi-tion palaces. It is located at the west end of the great court in the southern part of the site looking eastward, and at its rear are the transportation facilities and depots. The most conspicuous object which will attract the gaze of visitors on reaching the grounds is the gilded dome of this lofty building. This imposing edifice will cost about $450,000. The architect is Richard M. Hunt, of New-York, President of the American Institute of Architects. It covers an area of 260 feet square, and consists of four pavilions 84 feet square, one at each of the four angles of the square, and connected by a great central dome 120 feet in diameter and 220 feet in height, leaving at the center of each facade a recess 82 feet wide. THE MANUFACTURES AND LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING. Notable for its symmetrical proportions, the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building is the mammoth structure of the Exposition. It measures 1,687 by 787 feet and covers nearly 31 acres, being the largest Exposition building ever constructed, and erected at a cost of $1,000,000. Within the building a gallery 50 feet wide extends around all four sides, and projecting from this are 86 smaller galleries, 12 feet wide, from which visitors may survey the vast array of exhibits and the busy scene below. MACHINERY BUILDING, of which Peabody & Stearns, of Boston, are the architects, has been pronounced by many architects second only to the Administration Building in the magnificence of its appearance. This building measures 850 by 500 feet, and, with Machinery Annex and power house, will cost about $1,200,000. It is located at the extreme south end of the park, midway between the shore of Lake Michigan and the west line of the park. It is just south of the Administration Building, and west, across a lagoon, from the Agricultural Building. The building is spanned by three arched trusses, and surrounded on all of the four sides by a gallery 50 feet wide. ART BUILDING. It is the intention to locate on the Lake Front Park, near the heart of the city, the buildings required for Department "K," embracing Fine Arts, Pictorial Plastic and Decorative, and also a portion of Department "L," at a cost of $500,000, Woman's Building, Columbian Exposition. THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING. Located near the Lake shore, south of the main lagoon and of the area reserved for the foreign nations and the several States, and east of the Woman's Building and of Midway Plaisance, is the Government Exhibit Building. The Government Building was designed by Architect Windrim, now succeeded by W. J. Ed- brooke. It is classic in style, and bears a strong resemblance to the National Museum and other Government buildings at Washington. It covers an area of 350 by 420 feet, is constructed of iron, brick and glass, and cost $400,000. Its leading architectural feature is a central octagonal dome 120 feet in diameter and 150 feet high. HORTICULTURAL BUILDING. The building is 1,000 feet long, with an extreme width of 286 feet. The plan is a central pavilion with two end pavilions, each connected to the center pavilion by front and rear curtains, forming two interior courts, each 88 by 270 feet. THE ELECTRICAL BUILDING. The Electrical Building, the seat of perhaps the most novel and brilliant exhibit in the whole Exposition, is 345 feet wide and 700 feet long, the major axis running north and south. The south front is on the great Quadrangle or Court; the north front faces the lagoon ; the east front is opposite the Manufactures Building, and the west faces the Mines Building. THE HALL OF MINES AND MINING. Located between the Electricity and Transportation Buildings is the Mines and Mining Building. This building is 700 feet long by 350 feet wide. The galleries are 60 feet wide and 25 feet high from the ground floor, and are lighted on the sides by large windows, and from above by a high clearstory extending around the building. THE WOMAN'S BUILDING. The President of the Board of Lady Managers quickly discovered in the sketch submitted by Miss Sophia G. Hayden that harmony of grouping and gracefulness of details which indicate the architectural scholar, and to her was awarded the first prize of a thousand dollars, and also the execution of the design. The principal facade has an extreme length of 400 feet, the depth of the Building being half this distance. THE FISHERIES BUILDING. The Fisheries Building embraces a large central structure with two smaller polygonal buildings connected with it on either end by arcades. The extreme length of the building is 1,100 feet and the width 200 feet. THE FORESTRY BUILDING. The Forestry Building is in appearance the most unique of all the Exposition structures. Its dimensions are 200 by 500 feet. On all four sides of the building is a veranda, supporting the roof of which is a colonnade consisting of a series of columns composed of three tree-trunks each 25 feet in length, one of them from 16 to 20 inches in diameter and the others smaller. All of these trunks are left in their natural state, with bark undisturbed.