Iron, Glass, and Nationalism: The Making of an American Crystal Palace

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The New York Crystal Palace from an engraving in the

Scientific American

, October 23, 1852

Edward G. FitzGerald

Prof. Mary WoodsARCH 39011/28/06

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It is due to the sober economy of language that I call the sight of itincomparable, fairylike. It is a piece of summer night dream in the mid-day sun.

Lothar Bucher, on Joseph Paxton‟s Crystal Palace, 1851

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The Great Exhibition held in Hyde Park, London in the summer of 1851 markedthe beginning of a long era of international industrial and commercial celebrations. Thee

xhibition‟s Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton

, offered an impressive backdropto display the industrial achievements of Imperial Britain and the Western world. Thebuilding was a hitherto unimaginable greenhouse-like structure constructed innovativelyfrom cast-iron and glass in a way that gave the world a new sense of the possibilities of those materials in architecture. (see

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1.) Its halls, flooded with light, presentedspectators with a glimpse of the locomotives and steam pumps representative of progressand the dawn of the mechanical age juxtaposed next to another world of Greek statuaryand Austrian furniture.Understandably, the crystalline brilliance of the London palace inspired more thana few visitors, one of whom, Edward Riddle, resolved to recreate the awe-inspiringspectacle on the other side of the Atlantic. Americans, too, would have a glass monumentto progress and the labor of man. The details of the American encore to the Britishexhibition reveal more than simple replication Through a brief analysis of the New York Crystal Palace, one can see that it provided an object which the burgeoning country couldadopt and instill with its own nationalistic sentiments.Publicity heralding the advanced construction and fantastic treasures of theLondon palace caught the attention of

the American public while, news of the venture‟s

lucrative success appealed to entrepreneurs like, the Boston auctioneer and carriage

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maker, Edward Riddle. Riddle had conceived of plans for a second exhibition whileserving as the American Commissioner at the Crystal Palace in 1851. At its close, theinternational gang of exhibitors was anxious to sell their products overseas. In December1851,

The North American Miscellany and Dollar Magazine

reported that Riddle hadalready received nearly a thousand applications for display space in his proposed

American exhibition, “some from

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rince Albert.”

The prospects for an American fairseemed good. Upon his return, Riddle quickly set about the task of assembling a group of financiers.

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Newspaper accounts indicated that famed promoter P.T. Barnum, who had justclosed a show featuring the Bateman Sisters, a popular musical ensemble of the time,might be willing to back the scheme. When Barnum declined, Riddle instead marshaled agroup of New York bankers and merchants, including August Belmont, Watts Sherman,and Francis W. Edmond, who were willing to invest in the venture. In need of a venue fortheir project, Riddle and his backers petitioned the New York City Common Council foruse of Madison Square, a six acre public park in the borough of Manhattan. Their requestwas granted with the stipulation that admission not exceed fifty cents per person and thatthe exhibit hall be constructed of iron and glass like that in London among. When theaffluent community around the square learned of the plan, however, they complained thatit would ruin the aesthetics of the neighborhood and add to traffic congestion. After a judge ruled against the use of Madison Square, the council granted the investors the useof Reservoir Square, a 9.6 acre plot in midtown Manhattan, in its stead.

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In 1884, Reservoir Square was renamed Bryant Park, as it is today, to honor therecently deceased poet, editor, and civil reformer, William Cullen Bryant. The park had