Typical of World's Fair architecture of the period, the beautiful Beaux Arts buildings were temporary structures constructed of a mixture of plaster and straw known as "staff".  (Consider the cost of errecting such an ensemble of buildings, and what their purpose might be on a University campus.)  They  were finished by a highly skilled team that used both stock moldings and special handmade castings and carvings unique to each situation. The head sculptor on the left in this image, Fred Schmol, was an arts and crafts artist in his own right, admired still today for his ceramic creations. He helped put on no less than eleven World's Fairs. It is possible today to think of the buildings as "model architecture" to help inspire better architectural investment of all kinds. Imagine being a miner in Skagit County, and riding the train into Seattle to have an experience akin to visiting a European city - something he would possibly never get to otherwise accomplish. F.H. Nowell 

Example of staff from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, viewed from the inside. Author's photo, California Historical Society


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