New York Crystal Palace for the Exhibition of Industrial Products


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At great expense this beautiful view of the New York; Crystal Palace has been drawn and engraved expressly for the Scientific American. Amongthe many designsexhibitedtD the " Association for the Exhibition of Industry," that of Messrs. Carstensen Gildmeister, oi this city, was accepted, and it is here presented to our readers. The outside form of the building is that of a Greek cross. Each diameter of the cross will be 385 feet S inches long. There will be three similar entrances—one on the Sixth avenue, one on Fortieth, and one on Forty-second street.— Each entrance will be 47 feet wide, and that on the Sixth venue will be approached by a ftightofeightsteps. Each armof the.cross is, on the ground plan, 149 feet broad, this is divided into a central nave and two aisles, one on each side—the nave 41 feet wide-each aisle 54 feet wide. On each Iront is a large semicircular fan-light 41 feet wide and 21 feet high. The nave or central portion is 67 feet high, and is ol n arch 41 fee* in diameter. There are to be two arched naves crossing one another at right angles. The exterior width of the ridgeway of the nave is 71 feet. The central dome is 100 feet in diameter—68 ieet inside from the floor to the spring or the arch, and 118 feetto the crown; and on the outside, with Che lanterr., 149 feet. At each angle is an octagonal tower, eight feet in dia- by agalleryof its own width, 24 feetfrom the floor. The number of the columns on the ground floor will be 100, all hollow and of 8 inches diameter, and of different thicknesses from to 1 inch. On the gallery floor there will be 123 columns, and the whole structure will he conatnicfied of glass and iron. This Palace is to be erected at Reservoir Square, in this city, a place granted to the Association R.k ft nominal rent for the term of five years. It is situated about two miles from the City Hall, and persons will be enabled to reach it from the lower part of the city in half an hour. The building will be octagonal, the dou- . ble cross being the galleries. With the three public entrances there will also be. a private entrance. The ground floor is divided into four compartments separated from ate another by the naves and transepts running at right angles with two tiers of galleries. The whole ol the building.is to be -lighted by the large dome in the centre. The building will be seen for a considerable distance, and it will command an extensive view of the city. It will be a larger . building than any ever erected in our country, and will contain, on its ground floor, 111,000 square feet of space, and in its galleries, which are 54 feet wide, 63,000 square feet more, ma- ' king a total aren of 175,000 square feet for the . purposes of exhibition. The interior view of this building will be larger and more expansive than any structure in our land, and.those who have been astounded with the first view ofagreatassemblyunder a huge tent, will, when they first behold the inside of thisstruc- . ture next year, teeming with a living moving breath for a time." There are larger buildings i in the world, suchas St. Peter'sat Rome, and ! it is small in proportion to the London Crys- ' tal Palace, still it will be " a thing of beauty," and will attract thousands upon thousands to (his city who never visited it before. It is now a subject of common conversation in the remote districts of this great and growing country, and already have young men and old men, too, begun" to lay by a few shillings weekly or monthly that they may be enabled to come from the far prairie and backwoods to see the CrysKd Palace in New York. Measures have been adopted to obtain the exhibition of goods and articles from all parts f the world. The inhabitants of all nations have beeninvitedto become exhibitors,and it will certainly be a matter of no small interest for the Egyptian, who boasts ol his country as the cradle of civilization, to meet here and shake hands with his brother Yankee, who boasts of his country as the model of civilization—acountry, too, which three hundred years ago was trod only by the foot of savage man, whose habitation was only the wigwam of branches or the cave in the cleft of the rock. We understand that the castings have all been contracted tor and given, out, and the utmost energy is being displayed to have the building completed so as to be opened by the 3rd ol May. Men are now busily engaged on the foundations ; great activity, however, will have to be displayed to have it finished at the time promised ; indeed, we believe it will not be done, for so many contractors will, in all likelihood, fulfill the old saying, "too many cooks spoil the soup." However, we hope they will all get their work done in time, to have the work done all by one largefirm like Fox Henderson, than to have it done by a number of independent companies. We being demociatic, however, in our notions, like to see large contracts divided up, so as to give every one a share of the spoils; but here will we hold, we do not believe that any of vhe contractors will grow very M on their I profits. We expected that the plan of Mr. Bogardus,ofthiBCitj, would have beenselect-ed, and the contract given to him exclusively. His inventive talents, and his great experience {in fact he is the only practical man :n our country) in the construction of iron buildings; his superior patented mode of arching, bracing.and uniting the different parts togeth- hour." The Committee of the Association thought differently from us, and we do not presume to know their business so well as they do themselves ; but one thing we will say, and that as a prediction, the building will cost the company far more than what it would have been contracted for as a total, by "the American inventor of cast-iron buildings." Since we are to have ft World's Fair in New York next year, we now hope it will be an honor to our country, in every respect. We have not altered the views hitherto expressed, respecting the objects which led to the erection oi tins building and the holding of a World's Fair in this city. But we now hope tliat our countrymen of every artand trade are preparing themselves to exhibit machines and apparatus which will make us proud of their genius and artistic skill. We have seen it stated that England will do everything to decry our efiort; thereisnot the least necessity for indulging. From time to time, as matters of interest turnup, we will report progress to our readers ; we shall keep them posted up on all things newaind the Scientific American is determined to keep up its first and prominent position in mating the best reports, and illustrating the newest and most interestinc machines, c. that will be displayed in this great American Crystal Palace. We have named this building the American Crystal Palace, not after the European fashion which gives that name to royal residences, and those which have been hanored with royalty sleeping in them, but because it will be taken possession of by a whole army of old and young American kings and queens next year. We do not expect to see them carried to it in carriages drawn by cream colored Arabian horses, but in the royal cars of the Sixth avenue railroad which will take as many passengers as may choose to go, from Chambers street to the Palace, for only one five-cent piece each. We should all be glad if Queen Victoria would come over here to pay us a visit and see our " New York World's Fair;" she would meet with a really true and kind welcome: American gallantry would exhibit itself in manly respect and dignified courtesy. We are confident that she would go away heartily pleased with her American cousins, who believe her to be a good wife and mother, and a great deal better man, so far as good sense apd the government of her people are concerned, than many men who have a considerable reputation for statesmanship. We will furnish stereotype cuts of the above beautiful engraving for the low price of $10 each. This we do to remunerate ourselves in part for the great expense we have incurred in securing it in advance of all other publications.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 8 Issue 6This article was originally published with the title “New York Crystal Palace for the Exhibition of Industrial Products” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 8 No. 6 (), p. 41
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican10231852-41