The cloistered effect of the long colonnade surrounding the four sides
of the Court of the Ages is deepened by the vaulted ceiling, which, in
its Roman simplicity of line, contrasts effectively with the filigreed
exterior of the arcade.

The only color in the court, aside from a slight use in the tower and
the massed luxuriance of flowers, is found in the corridors where,
between the square pilasters, the prevailing old ivory is stained pink
of a deeper tone than in the other courts. The ivory pilasters are
carried up into the ceiling in curving, transverse arches, while the
band of blue, following their edges, leads to the rich blue depths
between them. At the far end of every vista glows the riot of color in
the mural paintings by Frank Brangwyn. The play of sunlight through the
succession of rounded arches increases the sense of bright charm.

--M. W. R.



Court of Ages
The Tower Through North Aisle

In the North Court of Ages, leading to the Esplanade, the tower is
identical with the main court, and the entire architectural treatment,
while simpler, is in the same spirit. Robbed of the complex symbolism by
which, in the larger court, the evolution of the lower forms of life is
depicted, the higher spiritual lesson is here intensified. The
sculptured groups in the tower, by Chester A. Beach of San Francisco,
represent the rise of humanity through successive ages of civilization.