Administration Building / The White City

Designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, the Administration Building at the 1893 World's Fair was octagonal, topped by a dome that rose 275 feet, higher than the dome of the U.S Capitol building. As all the buildings constructed for this event, the Administration Building was classical in design. In the interest of meeting deadlines, Daniel Burnham, chief of construction, decided that all the buildings at the Fair would be "perfectly white." Burnham hired Francis Millet, a painter from New York, to undertake this task. Millet's idea to fashion a special nozzle from a piece of pipe, attached to a hose, gave way to the first spray paint.