time, the all engrossing one, from one end of the land to the other, and the public men at the seat of government urged upon the United States representatives at foreign courts, a sense of the importance of the great enterprise, and the desirableness of contributions from abroad. It was viewed as an undertaking which, if conducted with energy and sagacity, would add luster to the American nation, as showing its appreciation of the luxuries and refinements of art, as well as of the more substantial exhibitions of human industry, in the shape of manufactures, machinery, etc.

In one respect, the American exhibition differed from its London predecessor, namely: the latter was under the free and unlimited auspices of the English government, with its boundless resources, while the former was undertaken by a company of individuals. It was not, however, an exclusively private speculation, but existed under a charter granted by the legislature, the company being known, in their corporate style, as the "Association for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations," comprising men of eminence in all the influential spheres of society, and of this Association. Mr. Theodore Sedgwick received the high honor of being elected president. So vast and multitudinous, however, were the details of such an undertaking, that much delay attended the operations of those charged with its active responsibilities. Gradually, after the encountering of many formidable obstacles, the preliminary matter of a suitable building was decided; and then, with instinctive American speed, the speculation in Crystal Palace stock at once commenced, and was one of the most active "fancies," the gains of forty and fifty per cent., as was in some cases experienced, being quite stimulating. The stock rose, at one time, to seventy or eighty per cent. above par. One gentleman, who had watched the building closely as it advanced in the course of construction, observed one day something which he thought might injure the safety of the edifice. It was only a

fancy of his; but, being impressed with it, he walked quietly into Wall street, and, selling out, pocketed a gain of fifteen thousand dollars. The distribution of the stock into so many hands, and the widely extended commercial interests involved, gained for the enterprise much of a national character. The public support given by the government to its operations, at home and abroad, helped also to dignify it, and to take away the invidious reputation which would have attached to a project having no higher aim than mere private gain. Following up this system of encouragement, the affair obtained the confidence and co-operation of all classes, and its consummation was looked forward to as one of the marked events in American history.

On the attention of foreign governments being called to the exhibition, His Sublime Highness, the Sultan of Turkey, was one of the first to respond to the appeal, by ordering a steam-frigate to be prepared for the reception and transmission of those splendid fabrics of the Ottoman empirerichly carved cabinet constructions, and carpets of wonderful elaboration—so much admired the world over. The senate of the United States, at once appropriated twenty thousand dollars, for the purpose of receiving, in a becoming manner of appreciation, the frigate thus so generously dispatched by his oriental majesty. England sent commissioners, and Queen Victoria, the Emperor Napoleon, and other sovereigns, vied with each other in their personal contributions and in those from their respective countries.

Great pains were taken to obtain such a plan for the building as would present the highest architectural merit, and be as perfectly adapted as possible to the great object in view. At that time, the matter of iron construction on a large scale was almost entirely new in the United States, there being no edifice wholly of that material to be found in the country, and, therefore, the want of experience on the part of both architects and engineers, presented serious obstacles. Many ingenious plans, how

ever, were offered, from the abridged account of which, as well as of the building itself, prepared by Mr. D. A. Wells, it appears that Sir Joseph Paxton, the architect of the London structure, furnished one of singular beauty, but the peculiar shape of the ground to be occupied rendered it impossible to use it. Mr. A. J. Downing offered another, of striking originality, but this was also excluded by the peremptory conditions imposed by the city, namely, that the building should be exclusively of iron and glass. Another plan, by Mr. Eidlitz, contemplated a suspension roof, so as to obviate the difficulty of spanning great widths by arches. Mr. Bogardus submitted a design for a circular building, consisting of successive colon

nades, placed one over the other, somewhat resembling the coliseum at Rome, and involving a new and ingenious method of joining. A plan was also proposed, by Mr. J. W. Adams, consisting of a great octagonal vault or dome, supported by ribs made of fasces or clusters of gas-pipe. The presentation of so many plans, each of a different character, and some of them of great beauty and originality, made the task of selection very difficult. Finally, after much consultation, the plan accepted was that of Messrs. Carstensen and Gildemeister, of New York, the latter gentleman being recently from Copenhagen, where he was well-known as the designer of some of the principal public works in

that city. After the final adoption of a plan, which was in August, 1852, no time was lost in putting the work under way. The piece of ground for the erection of the building, in Reservoir Square, granted by the city, was somewhat unfavorable for architectural purposes; but in other respects it was quite favorable, and the structure, when completed, was a magnificent spectacle, its main features being as follows:

With the exception of the floor, the whole of this splendid palace was constructed of iron and glass. The general idea of the edifice was a Greek cross, surmounted by a dome at the intersection, each diameter of the cross being three hundred and sixty-five feet and five inches long. There were three similar entrances, each forty-seven feet wide, and approached by flights of steps. Over each front was a large semi-circular fan-light, forty-one feet wide and twenty-one feet high, answering to the arch of the nave. Each arm of the cross was on the ground plan one hundred and forty-nine feet broad. This was divided into a central nave and two aisles, on each side, the nave forty-one, and each aisle fifty-four feet wide. The central portion, or nave, was carried up to the height of sixty-seven feet, and the semi-circular arch which spanned it was forty-one feet broad. There were thus, in effect, two arched naves crossing each other at right angles, forty-one feet broad, sixty-seven feet high to the crown of the arch, and three hundred and sixty-five feet long; and, on each side of these naves, an aisle fifty-four feet broad and forty-five feet high. The exterior of the ridgeway of the nave was seventy-one feet. Each aisle was covered by a gallery of its own width, and twenty-four feet from the floor. The central dome was one hundred feet in diameter, sixty-eight feet inside from the floor to the spring of the arch, one hundred and eighteen feet to the crown, and, on the outside, with the lantern, one hundred and forty-nine feet. The exterior angles of the building were ingeniously filled up with a triangular lean-to, twenty

four feet high, which gave the ground plan an octagonal shape, each side or face being one hundred and forty-nine feet wide. At each angle was an octagonal tower, eight feet in diameter and seventy-five feet high.

Ten large, and eight winding staircases, connected the principal floor with the gallery, which opened on the three balconies situated over the entrance halls, affording ample space for flower decorations, statues, vases, etc. The building contained, on the ground floor, one hundred and eleven thousand square feet of space, and in its galleries, of fifty-four feet width, sixty-two thousand square feet more, making a total area of one hundred and seventy-three thousand square feet, for the purposes of exhibition; being a total, within an inconsiderable fraction, of four acres.

There were on the ground floor of this wonderful structure, one hundred and ninety octagonal cast-iron columns, twentyone feet above the floor, and eight inches diameter, cast hollow, of different thicknesses, from half an inch to one inch. These columns received the cast-iron girders, the latter being twenty-six feet long and three feet high, and served to sustain the galleries and the wrought-iron construction of the roof, as well as to brace the whole structure in every direction. The girders, as well as the second-story columns, were fastened to the columns in the first story, by connecting pieces of the same octagonal shape as the columns, three feet four inches high. The number of lower floor girders was two hundred and fifty-two, besides twelve wrought - iron girders of the same height, and forty-one feet span over a part of the nave. second story contained one hundred and forty-eight columns, of the same shape as those below, and seventeen feet seven inches high. These received another tier of girders, numbering one hundred and sixty, for the support of the roofs of the aisles.

The

The dome, noble and beautiful in its proportions, constituted the chief architectural feature of the building. Its diame

| ter, one hundred feet, and its heightnearly seventy feet to the springing line, and one hundred and twenty-three to the crown of the arch-made it the largest, and, with one or two exceptions, the only scientifically constructed dome in the United States; a dome of oriental characteristics, in its light and graceful beauty,

seemingly borne in upon a zephyr, and capable of being lifted away by a breath, floating over the whole structure, pure and fascinating, like an aerial grace.

Twenty-four columns supported the dome, the columns rising to the second story, and to a height of sixty-two feet above the principal floor. The system of wrought-iron trusses which connected them together, and was supported by them, formed two eccentric polygons, each of sixteen sides; these received a cast-iron bed-plate, to which the cast-iron shoes for the ribs of the dome were bolted, the latter being constructed of two curves of double angle-iron, securely connected together by trellis-work, the requisite steadiness being secured by tie-rods, which braced them both vertically and horizontally. At the top, the ribs were bolted to a horizontal ring of wrought and cast iron, having a diameter of twenty feet in clear, and surmounted by the lantern. As in the other roofs of the building, the dome was cased with matched deal and tin sheathing, light being communicated to the interior through the lantern, and also in part from the sides, pierced for thirty-two ornamental windows, these being glazed with stained glass one-eighth of an inch thick, and representing the arms of the Union and of its several States,—a feature which formed no inconsiderable part of the interior decoration, and won the admiration of every beholder, foreign as well as Ameri

can.

The enamel, with which the whole of the glass used in the structure was covered, was laid upon the glass with a brush, and, after drying, subjected to the intense heat of a kiln, by which the coating became vitrified, and as durable as the glass itself; the effect produced being similar to that

of ground glass, translucent but not transparent, the sun's rays, diffused by passing through it, yielding an agreeable light, deprived of that intensity of heat and glare which is so peculiar to them in this climate. In the absence of a similar pre

caution in the London crystal palace, whose roofs, as well as walls, were inclosed with transparent glass, it was found necessary to cover the interior of the building with canvas, to produce the required shade. The external walls of the New

York building were of cast-iron framing and panel-work, into which were inserted the sashes of the windows and the louvers for ventilation.

But the rapid and unexpected increase of applications for space by exhibitors, led to the erection of a large addition to the structure thus described. It consisted of two parts, of one and two stories respectively, and occupied the entire ground between the main building and the reservoir; its length, four hundred and fifty-one feet, and its extreme width seventy-five feet. It was designed for the reception of machinery in motion, the cabinets of mining and mineralogy, and the refreshment rooms, with their necessary offices. The second story, nearly four hundred and fifty feet long and twenty-one wide, and extending the whole length, was entirely devoted to the exhibition of pictures and statuary.

CRYSTAL PALACE OF NEW YORK, FOR THE EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRIES OF ALL NATIONS.

In the work of decorating the building, the leading idea was to bring out to advantage the beautiful architectural character of the edifice itself to decorate construction, rather than to construct decoration. The result proved surprisingly attractive. The colors employed on the exterior were mixed in oil, the base being white lead. The outside presented the appearance of a building of a light-colored bronze, of which all features purely ornamental were of gold. The inside had a prevailing tone of buff, or rich cream color, which was given to all the cast-iron constructive work. This color was relieved by a moderate and judicious use of the three positive colors, red, blue, and yellow, in their several tints of vermilion, garnet, sky-blue, and orangecertain parts of the ornamental work being gilt-to accord with the arrange

ment of colors employed in the decora

| tion of the ceilings. The only exceptions to the use of oil colors were the ceiling of the lean-to and the dome, these being executed on canvas.

The effect of the interior of the dome was particularly splendid. The rays from