P. H. Delamotte Photograph of the Interior of the Crystal Palace
After a successful year of housing the Great Exposition, the Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton was disassembled and moved to Sydenham, where it stood for the next 85 years (Hobhouse, 32). The Palace, built for the 1851 World's Fair in London, was an architectural and engineering wonder modeled after the bridge and train shed construction of the mid-nineteenth century. The structure had been designed to be quickly assembled out of prefabricated members and easily rebuilt elsewhere. Its light construction was made possible to use of thin cast iron prefabricated elements combined with wood and a glazed outer shell.
The Crystal Palace housed the most spectacular collection of artistic and industrial wonders ever assembled in one place thus far. Visitors came from all over the world to see this display of power at the "Exhibition of the Works of All Nations" which was organized by Prince Albert and Henry Cole (Beaver, 12). The success of the Crystal Palace that cost "a penny per cubic foot" (Hobhouse, 39) brought Joseph Paxton much praise as well as a knighthood. The structure at Hyde Park was designed as a temporary building, able to be constructed and disassembled easily. During the Great Exposition the Crystal Palace housed the works of craftsmen, engineers and artists. The most popular of these exhibits was a crystal fountain made especially for the exhibition (Beaver, 47). The full 33,000,000 cubic feet of Crystal Palace was filled with displays and people crowding the aisles examining these wonders (Hobhouse, 39).
When the Fair closed the fate of the Crystal Palace was a topic of extreme importance. Its popularity was obvious and Paxton suggested transforming...
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...reat Britain. London: The Arts Council, 1965.
Beaver, Patrick. The Crystal Palace, 1851-1936: a portrait of Victorian enterprise. London, Hugh Evelyn Ltd., 1970.
Briggs, Asa. Iron Bridge to Crystal Palace: impact and images of the Industrial Revolution. London: Thames and Hudson in collaboration with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, c1979.
Hitchcock, Henry Russell. The Crystal Palace: the structure, its antecedents and its immediate progeny: and exhibition. Northampton, Mass.: Smith College Museum of Art, 1952.
Hobhouse, Christopher. 1851 and the Crystal Palace; being an account of the Great Exhibition and its contents; of Sir Joseph Paxton; and the erection, the subsequent history and the destruction of his masterpiece. London, Murray, 1950.
Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography: from 1839 to the present. New York: Museum of Modern Art. 1982.
As the focal point of the fair, the Administration Building had an important symbolic function. Although not intended for anything related to the fair other than housing offices, the picture shows that it was much larger than necessary for administration purposes. Its great size related to its function as triumphal gateway into the fair. The large majority of visitors arrived by train at the station located directly behind the Administration Building.
In 1901 Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) designed the elaborate hall for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held in Saint Louis in 1904. This short-lived structure deserves attention, as it was a main focus of the fair and an important benchmark in its designer's career.
The complete building cost the city 2.5 million dollars which is almost nine times greater that the original target price which was set at 300,000 dollars. Many people complained and said that the cost of building the hall could have been used on practical schemes such as sewer improvage, water supplies and other important city needs. This mind blowing amount of money encouraged many investigations and lawsuits. One affair being in which the architects name was revealed carved immediately below the ledge under the uppermost windows and it spelled out "E J LENNOX ARCHITECT A D 1898".
Carden, Robert W. "The Franco-British Exhibition." Architectural Review 1908 July, v. 24, p. [32]-37 ; 1908 Sept., p. [108]-111
Osborne, Harold. The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
The largest structure at the fair was the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. It housed many...
The plan for an American Crystal Palace originated with Edward Riddle, a Boston auctioneer and carriage-maker. He assembled a group of New York bankers who had either visited or heard marvelous stories about the London exhibition and were more than willing to invest in a similar project in the United States. Riddle tried but failed to interest the famed entrepreneur, P.T. Barnum, in the project. The group of investors soon petitioned the Board of Aldermen in New York City for use of Madison Square, located in lower Manhattan where Broadway and Fifth Avenue meet at 23rd Street, to build a "house of iron and steel for an Industrial Exhibition.
Tolmachev, I. (2010, March 15). A history of Photography Part 1: The Beginning. Retrieved Febraury 2014, from tuts+ Photography: http://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/a-history-of-photography-part-1-the-beginning--photo-1908
In the downtown area of Madison, Indiana, sits an extraordinary structure that seems to capture attention from all walks of life. The Broadway Fountain was created by a French artist named J.P. Victor Andre. Andre obviously knew what he was doing when he was asked to construct this fountain because of the impressive composition it has and with its mesmerizing size. “Some have suggested that Andre’s neo-classical design was inspired by the famous fountain in Place-de-la-Concord in Paris, or by a fountain exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1851” (Wright).
The Exhibition Hall built by Stephen Kemp, is the oldest and most unique hall on the fairgrounds; it was the first hall to be built (Wynn). Only used “from (1850-1860), the innovation octagon style was used for hou...
"Burton, Sir Richard Francis." Microsoft Encarta. Funk and Wagnall's Inc. Copyright 1995 Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Copyright 1993.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art came about as an idea from Jon Jay in Paris, France in 1866 with the idea of “national institution gallery of art” within the United States. Once this idea was proposed, it was immediately moved forward with his return to the United States. With the help of the Union League Club in NY they began to acquire civic leaders, businessmen, artists, and collectors who aided in the creation of the museum. For over 140 years, the visitors who go here have received everything the mission of the institution states.
The “superstar” museum gained this status by considering every important detail during its establishment and initial phases of conversion from royal palace to museum (Gombault, 2002). As the purpose of the building changed, each room addressed new functions with new requirements. Although the function of the Louvre is different from the building’s original intention, the building is still appears dignified and important enough to display priceless artifacts and painting (Steffensen-Bruce, 1998). This consideration was applied in designing the Met. The Met looked towards the South Kensington Museum (Victoria and Albert) and the “ideal role model” due to its extensive collections and international reputation (Heckscher, 1995). The Met found itself in a similar situation to the South Kensington, because it did not have a building or a collection to start with (Heckscher, 1995). When designing museums, architects strived to create monuments that “prepare and educate the mind of the visitor (Steffensen-Bruce, 1998).” Education is an essential function of a museum. Acquiring, preserving, and properly displaying materials, permits a museum to fulfill this duty (Steffensen-Bruce, 1998). For instance, lighting is a factor that affects the manner in which artwork is viewed and can be properly appreciated. When determining the proper lighting for the Louvre, Comte d’Angiviller, strongly believed that natural, overhead lighting was the most effective solution (McClellan, 1994, p. 72). The same determination impacted the decision to add skylights at the Met. During the initial phase, architects Vaux and Mould, added skylights to the upper floor, and windows to the lower floor that provided a natural light solution (Heckscher, 1995). Additionally, glass-roofed courtyards provided “unimpeded light” for displaying
The setting is London in 1854, which is very different to anything we know today. Johnson’s description of this time and place makes it seem like a whole other world from the here and now....
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, serves as the meeting place for the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Old Palace was a medieval building that was destroyed by fire in 1834. After the fire, a competition was held for architects to submit plans for the new building that should be in a Gothic or Elizabethan style hoping to embody the conservative values of England. A Royal commission chose Charles Barry’s designs for a Perpendicular Gothic palace. Barry’s own style was more classical than Gothic which is why Augustus Pugin’s involvement was so crucial in Barry winning the competition. Barry’s plans reflected more of his knowledge of the neo-classical style through its symmetry. Pugin was the leading authority on Gothic architecture at the time. Almost all of the remains of the Old Palace were incorporated into the new design. Their work on the Palace began in 1840 and, while most of the work was finished by 1860, the New Palace of Westminster was not complete until a decade later. One of the most identifiable features of the Palace is the Elizabeth Tower, commonly identified by its main bell, “Big Ben”. The building is also known for two main spaces; the Lord’s Chamber and the Common’s Chamber. It is well identified by its main façade which runs parallel to the River Thames. The Palace, as it stands today, has been conserved very well to best display the designs as Charles Barry and Pugin intended them to be displayed. The Palace was, and remains, the center for political life in the United Kingdom, just as it remains a major iconic landmark of London. Many articles and books have been written discussing and disputing the history and design of the New Palace of Westminster, as well as the...