Chapter XXXVI: Part 36

The palace of the famous Duke of Marlborough, presented to him by the nation, in honor of his services, is not far from Oxford, in England. This magnificent structure has often been described, and recently by Silliman in his “Visit to Europe.” “We entered,” he says, “by the splendid portal erected to the memory of her husband by the surviving Duchess of Marlborough. The palace is situated on a plain in the midst of an extensive domain, eleven miles in circuit, laid out in the finest style of an English park. There are twenty-five hundred acres covered with the richest verdure, including a beautiful lake, from which large pike are obtained. The palace is an immense structure, and has been greatly improved by the present duke, who, it is said, has recently expended eighty thousand pounds upon the establishment. It is in vain to attempt a detailed description. The north front measures three hundred and eighty-four feet from one wing to the other. We were courteously conducted through the palace by a man of good appearance, and of civil but formal manners. He was dressed in black: you would take him for a gentleman, and feel that it would be improper to offer him money, but he took it from our party. We were taken through one splendid room after another, until it would seem as if there would be no end of them. They were generally lofty, apparently twenty to twenty-five feet high, and ornamented with rich ceilings, gilding, and fresco paintings. The principal apartments are the hall, the bow-window room, the state bedroom, the billiard-room, the breakfast-room, the grand cabinet, the small drawing-room, the great drawing-room, the dining-room, the saloon, the green drawing-room, the state drawing-room, the crimson drawing-room, the library, the chapel, and the Titian room. This palace had no appearance of being the comfortable home of the family, who, it is said, keep it up out of regard to the glory of their great ancestor; but that they are too poor to live in it in a style of appropriate magnificence. The gardens or pleasure grounds, and the private grounds, were not visible.

“The pictures in this palace are numerous, and many of them are admirable. Vandyke, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Rubens, Holbein, Paul Veronese, Leonardi da Vinci, Reynolds, Poussin, Carlo Dolci, Corregio, Rembrandt, Teniers, Titian, and other eminent artists, by mental creations, contributed the living glowing images of their own minds, or transferred living features to the canvas. Many very beautiful and lovely women and princely men look down upon the observer from these animated and eloquent walls; for the palace is, in fact, an immense gallery of pictures, divided among many rooms. The victories of the Duke of Marlborough are displayed in Antwerp tapestry upon the walls of several of the apartments. The tapestry pictures are of great size: a single picture covers a side, sometimes two sides of a large room; so that there is space to exhibit also the scenery of the country; there is room also for portraits of the principal officers, as large as life—of the duke himself, and even of the horses; and near or remote, the hostile armies are lingering on the fearful edge of battle, or they are actually engaged in deadly combat. How touching the reflection, how sad the remembrance, that, excepting the present duke and his family, only one individual of all the vast number of human beings represented by these pictures survives. One that appears as a little child in a large family group, is now the aged grandmother of a distinguished peer. All the rest have passed away, and the great Marlborough himself, and his proud, aspiring duchess, lie under the marble pavement of the chapel in the palace, as Louis XIV., the Grand, reposes in his own tomb, and Queen Anne in hers; and all the sanguinary conflicts of that eventful period are now to be found in history alone. War, by a spirit of chivalry, was then a kind of duel on a great scale; it is said that military courtesy sometimes offered the first fire to the enemy; and a similar offer being made in return, they thus bandied compliments as if in sport, when they knew that the first fire would lay many a gallant soldier low.

“One room is one hundred and eighty-three feet in length, and contains the ducal library, consisting of seventeen thousand volumes. They are protected by a wire netting in front. At the upper end of the library is a fine marble statue of Queen Anne, which cost five thousand guineas. This palace, like most of the ancient public structures in England constructed of oölite, is externally much corroded by time. These immense establishments are, of course, very expensive in repairs, in embellishments, in service, and in many other ways; but they bring no income; nor, in general, does the vast domain which surrounds the palace. If kept in high order, as they generally are, they require a great number of laborers, especially in the horticultural department; and for all this there is little or no return, unless it may be something toward supplies of food for the household. There is at Blenheim a column or obelisk to the memory of the Duke of Marlborough, which is one hundred and thirty-four feet high, crowned with a statue in Roman dress. The gallery of Titian is secluded in a separate building, and for reasons obvious to those who have seen it, is exhibited in a more reserved manner to artists and amateurs.”

THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES.

This splendid palace was founded by Louis XIV. “A building on this ground,” says a late tourist, “had been used by his immediate predecessors as a hunting-lodge; but in 1660, Louis commenced converting it into a palace, and, after many additions, it became the royal residence in 1681. For a century or more it was a favorite abode of the kings of France, and no expense was spared upon its decorations. In 1792, the palace was devastated by the revolutionists. Everything convertible into money was sold for the nation, and but for Napoleon, it would have been completely destroyed. It was said, that he would have made it his residence, had it not required fifty millions of francs to put it in order. Louis XIV. expended upon it forty millions of pounds sterling, and Louis Philippe fifteen millions of francs. The latter restored it to splendor, and labored to concentrate in it splendid illustrations of the glories of France. All the painted ceilings, gildings, &c., were restored, and new galleries and saloons were formed. An immense series of paintings, sculptures, and works of art, illustrative of every important event that has reflected honor on the annals of France, now fills the splendid halls of this noble palace, forming a historical museum that has not its parallel in Europe, or in the world. It would be a vain attempt to endeavor to describe the palace. Its buildings and grounds are of very great extent. It is said to contain one hundred and thirty-seven grand saloons and lesser apartments, which are furnished with ten thousand pictures.

“Four hours are allowed for the inspection of the rooms and of their contents: and this time we employed most industriously, passing through the apartments with painful rapidity. No sooner were we attracted by a room, or interested in a picture, than we were hurried on to another, and another, and another apartment, until our faculties were tired, and our eyes satiated with the brilliant display. Many of the pictures are very large; and it appeared, from the delineations on some of the larger ones, which were in an unfinished state, that the canvas was hanging on the wall where the pictures now are when they were painted. Most of the pictures are battle scenes, from Clovis, Charlemagne, and the crusaders, down to Napoleon’s wonderful career, and even to the war in Algeria. The figures are of such dimensions as generally to appear of the size of life, notwithstanding the distance and elevation from which they are seen. It is painful to observe how large a part of human effort has been expended upon war. There are, however, many pictures of quiet scenes, and an immense number of portraits. Although the productions of the French pencil are here of unequal excellence, there are certainly among them no small number of fine pictures. Here also we see a vast collection of statues in marble and of casts in plaster, and a great series of medals and coins. The pictures of royal residences represent many that no longer exist, and with them are illustrations of the costumes of past times. Some of the galleries in the palace are three hundred feet long, and are filled with statuary. In order to see all the works of art, it is necessary to walk three or four miles.

“We looked into the private theater and chapel. Prayers and divine service were held in the one, and plays acted for the royal entertainment in the other; and here members of the royal family sometimes appeared on the stage. The confessional of Louis XIV. is a small room, by the side of which is a window, where a soldier was always stationed while the king was at confession; and the very chair in which his confessor, Père la Chaise, sat, and the very cushion on which Louis XIV. kneeled, are here in their places. Strange infatuation! The confessor who urged and obtained the revocation of the edict of Nantes, which was to let loose the dogs of persecution upon the Protestants, and the pliable monarch who yielded himself to license this cruel work of death on thousands, and of banishment upon many thousands more, could here meet in a private act of devotion, while they were about to violate the first laws of humanity! The bed in which the king slept, and in which he died, is still to be seen in his bedroom, and no one has since slept in that room. The private room of Marie Antoinette, queen of Louis XVI., has a small door in the side, through which the queen escaped in October, 1789, when the palace was forced. Through this door she was compelled to fly in her night dress, while a faithful officer of her guard was killed on the spot. All these melancholy places we saw, and also the gallery in which the king and queen and their children appeared, October sixth, 1789, to appease the fury of the Parisian mob, many thousands of whom filled the immense court of the palace yard. In this gallery La Fayette also appeared with them, and in sight of the people kissed the queen’s hand, to testify his loyalty and fidelity. It required no small share of courage and firmness thus to appear as the friend and protector of the royal pair, and their children, in the face of an infuriated multitude. This palace is associated with many other interesting events. In the time of Louis XIV. it was the scene of more splendor than any palace in Europe. And though for a time neglected after the flight of Louis Philippe, yet more recently under the government of Louis Napoleon, it has been adorned and restored in a very lavish and expensive manner. I had no opportunity to see the splendid play of the waters: the fountains were undergoing repair; besides, they play only on Sundays, which is the great gala day of the French, and when vast numbers of people, as in past times, resort to Versailles for amusement. In the time of Louis XIV., XV., and XVI., there were here extensive military establishments, which are now in decay. There was a manufactory of arms, which produced annually fifty thousand stands; but it was plundered by the Prussians, when the allies took Paris in 1814. The court of the palace measures eight hundred feet by five hundred, and is paved, as the courts of the French palaces generally are. In this court there are statues of great men, Colbert, Turenne, and others, of ultra-colossal size. In the center of the court there is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV., also of enormous dimensions. Versailles, nourished by the power, influence and money of Louis XIV., became a splendid city of one hundred thousand people; but the population has now dwindled to thirty thousand. Louis XVI. was an excellent mechanic: happy had it been for him had a shop instead of a throne been his lot. We saw a good door-lock of his construction, which was still serviceable; and there is yet to be seen a brass meridian made by him, and inlaid in the floor. Several of the royal carriages are here in a perfect state of preservation. They are gorgeous in the extreme, being all covered massively with gilded carving, and superbly lined.”

THE PALACE OF ST. CLOUD.

“This splendid palace is close upon the Seine, at a point where that river takes a graceful curve, and, in the course of several miles, is crossed by numerous bridges of stone, elegantly arched, and of the most solid construction. The landscape is here very rich and picturesque. Barracks of superior construction, and other handsome buildings, rise on the slope of a hill from the river, and the palace crowns the summit. The palace of St. Cloud was founded in 1572, by a rich financier. In 1658, it was purchased by Louis XIV. for his brother, the Duke of Orleans, who adorned it expensively. In 1782, Louis XVI. bought it for his queen, Marie Antoinette. It was a favorite place with her, as it was subsequently with Napoleon and Josephine. The principal front is one hundred and forty feet long and seventy feet high. Important events have happened here. In this palace Henry III. was assassinated by Jacques Clement, in 1589, and our guide assured us, that a place in the long room, which he indicated, was the very spot where the deed was done. Henrietta, the queen of Charles I. of England, died here. Here Napoleon, November tenth, 1799, completed the subjugation of the then existing government, dispersed the members of the council of ancients, whom he had adjourned to this place from Paris, and assumed the reins himself. In this place, the capitulation of Paris was signed in 1815. Here Charles X., in 1830, was informed of the explosion of the revolution; and here Louis Philippe rested a short time, during his flight from Paris in 1848.

“We have seen nothing in Europe so delightful as this palace. Its situation is splendid; being elevated high upon the side of a hill rising from the Seine, it overlooks Paris, and all the populous and most beautiful country around; the Seine winds gracefully along through the meadows, and appears wider than at Paris, where it is narrowed by the quays and other structures of the city. The views into the park are very fine on all sides of the palace; in the interior the ground rises, and vistas open up the green slope, with a long avenue of statues standing in the open air in one direction, and a tower in the distance in another, while a noble park of old and lofty forest trees, stretches over the flat ground in front, quite to the river. In the interior of the palace, everything is in the best taste. The furniture of the rooms remains as it was left by Josephine, Maria Louisa, and the family of Louis Philippe. The Duchess of Orleans, daughter-in-law of the late king, passed much time here with her children, and their beds, as well as that of Louis Philippe and his queen, remain undisturbed, with their rich silk curtains and covers.

“The pictures at St. Cloud are very numerous, and are lovely exhibitions of that almost creative art. They are all drawn from quiet scenes, such as must ever remain grateful to the human mind. Among the hundreds of pictures by the first masters that adorn these walls, there is not a single battle-piece. In this respect, St. Cloud presents a striking and very agreeable contrast with the carnage that crimsons the long galleries of Versailles. Louis Philippe sought, in that palace, to gratify the national avidity for glory, by multiplying battle-scenes in which the arms of France had been triumphant, and by depicting the persons of her heroes, until the tired eye that gazes on them is satiated with gorgeous costume, and the mind afflicted with human suffering. At St. Cloud a more amiable feeling was cherished, as appears by the charming pictures of rural scenery, of mild and splendid landscapes, of peaceful buildings, abodes of happy domestic life, scenes living and real, and ever grateful. As the private rooms in which the successive royal families lived, are rich in elegant simplicity, in a style of chaste beauty, they are in strong contrast with the rooms of state, which are extremely magnificent, and adorned by a profusion of princely decorations. Their domes are all alive with the imaginary beings of fabulous antiquity. Gods and goddesses, and muses and nymphs, and a multitude of creations of poetic fancy and records of old legends, decorate the ceilings. A principal ornament of the public rooms is the Gobelin tapestry, manufactured and hung by order of Louis Philippe. All that I had seen before at Windsor castle, or at Blenheim palace, fades in comparison with the rich decorations of the Gobelin looms, which adorn the public halls of St. Cloud. These textile pictures are perfectly beautiful, and from their magnitude and the august personages of the historical dramas which they present so impressively to the eye, they are sublime. No one viewing them from the distance across the room, would even suspect that they are anything else than the most perfect productions of the pencil, and even when the observer approaches them, it is not easy to convince himself that the splendid illusion is produced by the interweaving of colored woolen and silken threads. Five of the scenes here depicted in Gobelin tapestry are copied from original paintings still existing in the Louvre, executed by Rubens, for Marie de Medicis. The first is the duke of Anjou, declared king of Spain (Philip V.) The second of these pictures, which is not less than twenty-five feet square, is the birth of Marie de Medicis; the third is the presentation of her picture to Henry V.; the fourth, his marriage with her; the fifth represents his departure from his capital, and the committing of the government to the care of the queen. We saw also most magnificent vases of Sèvres porcelain: one of them was presented to Maria Antoinette; it must have been, I believe, five feet high without the pedestal, and of the capacity of a barrel or two. We have nothing in America that can convey a full impression of these superb productions of the plastic art. They are modeled after the forms of the most beautiful Etruscan vases; the most perfect purity of the porcelain material is contrasted with the finest efforts of the pencil, in the pictures, which being incorporated by the fire, are indissolubly wedded to the basis on which they are delineated, and they are resplendent with gold and blue enamel of cobalt. One is at a loss which most to admire, the productions of the Gobelin looms or those of the Sèvres furnaces.

“The floors of the palace, according to the general custom in French houses, are made of pieces of boards. They rarely exceed six inches in width, and are tastefully disposed in various geometrical figures. All the floors that we have seen in Paris, except some that are covered by carpets, are kept waxed; the waxing is renewed daily, and they are so smooth as to appear hazardous to those unaccustomed to walk upon them. The floors of the palace of St. Cloud have been, heretofore, covered by Gobelin carpets, which, at the time of our visit, were rolled and put away for safe keeping. We saw the council table of Napoleon and Louis Philippe, memorable for the deliberations which have been held over its boards. St. Cloud was the favorite place of consultation on matters of peace and war; here Napoleon planned some of his campaigns; here Louis Philippe passed much time with his family, and his daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Orleans, found a quiet retreat with her little son, the Count de Paris, whom she in person presented in the legislative hall during the revolution of 1848. Her husband, the Duke of Orleans, presumptive heir to the throne, having been killed by a mysterious providence, she naturally hoped that the legislature would acknowledge the claims of her son, founded on both those of his father and his grandfather Louis Philippe; but all the world knows that she was disappointed, and was fain to retreat and seek protection for her child and herself. There was a deep feeling of pensiveness connected with our visit to St. Cloud; closed now as it is and quite solitary, without a single individual remaining of those who formerly figured there; it was to us an instructive memento of the vanity of human glory. The splendid apartments remain, with all their furniture and decorations in perfect order. The solitary chapel, chastely elegant, although grave in its architecture, seemed all ready and waiting for the arrival of worshipers; and the entire palace, with its beautiful grounds, impresses one almost with the belief, that kings and queens, and courtiers and nobles, and guests of renown, will soon return and give life and joy to those vacant scenes; but alas, except some few members of the family of Louis Philippe and of Napoleon, all are gone to the tomb. The dreaded conqueror of nations found his second prison and his grave on a bleak rock, in the ocean, and his final tomb among those invalids whom, in their youth, he led to fields of battle and victory. Josephine, once an ornament of St. Cloud, as she was of every scene in which she presided, went with a broken heart from Malmaison to her grave. An old man, our guide through the palace, said to us, ‘I have been thirty years here, and I have seen three monarchs expelled from this palace and from their thrones.’ I have omitted to mention the large library of Louis Philippe, which still remains at St. Cloud, undisturbed and in perfect order. It is my impression that the number of volumes was stated at twelve thousand.”

THE CRYSTAL PALACE IN NEW YORK.

Turning now from palaces constructed for the kings and monarchs of the earth, let us pass to palaces reared for the exhibition of the works of industry and art of the people. And the first of these which we will notice is the crystal palace in New York. This splendid structure, a view of which is given in the cut below, was erected for the exhibition of the industry and art of all nations. This magnificent building was erected on Reservoir square, at the northern extremity of the city of New York, from plans furnished by Messrs. Carstensen and Gildermeister. The building is now standing, and is filled with the works of industry and art from every part of the globe. Its main features are as follows. It is, with the exception of the floor, entirely constructed of iron and glass. The general idea of the edifice is that of a Greek cross, surmounted by a dome at the intersection. Each diameter of the cross is three hundred and sixty-five feet and five inches long. There are three entrances, each forty-seven feet wide, and one of which is approached by a flight of eight steps. Over each front is a large semicircular fan-light, forty-one feet wide and twenty-one feet high, answering to the arch of the nave. Each arm of the cross is on the ground-plan one hundred and forty-nine feet broad. This is divided into a central nave and two aisles, one on each side; the nave forty-one, each aisle fifty-four feet wide. The central portion or nave is carried up to the hight of sixty-seven feet, and the semicircular arch by which it is spanned, is forty-one feet broad. There are 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 is an aisle fifty-four feet broad and forty-five feet high. The exterior of the ridgeway of the nave is seventy-one feet. Each aisle is covered by a gallery of its own width, and twenty-four feet from the floor. The central dome is one hundred feet in diameter, sixty-eight feet inside from the floor to the spring of the arch, and 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 are ingeniously filled up with a triangular lean-to, twenty-four feet high, which gives the ground-plan an octagonal shape, each side or face being one hundred and forty-nine feet wide. At each angle is an octagonal tower eight feet in diameter, and seventy-five feet high.

Ten large and eight winding staircases connect the principal floor with the gallery, which opens on the three balconies that are situated over the entrance hall, and afford ample space for flower decorations, statues, vases, &c. The ten principal staircases consist of two flights of steps with two landing-places to each; the eight winding staircases are placed in the octagonal towers, which lead also to small balconies on the tops of the towers and to the roof of the building.

The building contains on the ground-floor, one hundred and eleven thousand square feet of space, and in its galleries, which are fifty-four feet wide, sixty-two thousand square feet more, making a total area of one hundred and seventy-three thousand square feet, for the purposes of exhibition. There are thus on the ground-floor two acres and a half, or exactly two and fifty-two hundredths; in the galleries, one acre and forty-four hundredths; total, within an inconsiderable fraction, four acres.

There are on the ground-floor one hundred and ninety octagonal cast-iron columns, twenty-one feet above the floor, and eight inches in diameter, cast hollow, of different thicknesses, from half an inch to one inch. These columns receive the cast-iron girders. These are twenty-six and one-third feet long and three feet high, and serve 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, are fastened to the columns in the first story, by connecting pieces of the same octagonal shape as the columns, three feet and four inches high, having proper flanges and lugs to fasten all pieces together by bolts. The number of lower-floor girders is two hundred and fifty-two, besides twelve wrought-iron girders of the same hight, and forty-one feet span over a part of the nave. The second story contains one hundred and forty-eight columns, of the same shape as those below, and seventeen feet and seven inches high. These receive another tier of girders, numbering one hundred and sixty, for the support of the roofs of the aisles, each nave being covered by sixteen cast-iron semicircular arches, each composed of four pieces.

The dome will strike every one as the grand architectural feature of the building. Its diameter is one hundred feet, and its hight to the springing line is nearly seventy feet, and to the crown of the arch, one hundred and twenty-three feet. It is said to be the largest, as well as almost the only dome hitherto erected in the United States. It is supported by twenty-four columns, which rise beyond the second story, and to a hight of sixty-two feet above the principal floor. The system of wrought-iron trusses which connects them together at the top, and is supported by them, forms two concentric polygons, each of sixteen sides. They receive a cast-iron bed-plate, to which the cast-iron shoes for the ribs of the dome are bolted. The latter are thirty-two in number. They are constructed of two curves of double angle iron, securely connected together by trellis-work. The requisite steadiness is secured by tie-rods, which brace them both vertically and horizontally. At the top the ribs are bolted to a horizontal ring of wrought and cast iron, which has a diameter of twenty-feet in the clear, and is surmounted by the lantern. As in the other roofs of the building, the dome is cased with matched deal and tin sheathing. Light is communicated to the interior through the lantern, and also in part from the sides, which are pierced for thirty-two ornamental windows. These are glazed with stained glass, representing the arms of the union and of its several states, and form no inconsiderable part of the interior decoration.

The external walls of the building are constructed of cast-iron framing and panel-work, into which are inserted the sashes of the windows and the louvers for ventilation. The glass is one-eighth of an inch thick, and was manufactured at the Jackson glass works, New York, and afterward enameled by Cooper & Belcher, of Camptown, N. J. The enamel, with which the whole of it is covered, is laid upon the glass with a brush, and after drying, is subjected to the intense heat of a kiln, by which the coating is vitrified, and rendered as durable as the glass itself. It produces an effect similar to that of ground glass, being translucent, but not transparent. The sun’s rays, diffused by passing through it, yield an agreeable light, and are deprived of that heat and glare which belong to them in this climate. In the absence of a similar precaution in the crystal palace at Hyde park, in England, (of which an account will next be given,) the roofs of which, 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.

At each angle of the building there is an octagonal tower, eight feet in diameter and seventy-six feet in hight. These contain winding stairways, which lead to the galleries and roofs, and were intended for the use of the officers and employees of the association. Twelve broad staircases, one on either side of each entrance, and four beneath the dome, connect the principal floor with the gallery. The latter are circular in part, and consist of two flights of steps with two landing-places. The flooring of the galleries is made of closely matched planks, while those forming the floor of the first story are separated by narrow intervals, in the same manner and for the same purpose as in the London building. Over each of the principal entrance halls, the galleries open upon balconies, which afford ample space for placing flowers, vases and statues for decoration. Above the balconies, the ends of the naves are adorned with large fan-lights, corresponding to the semicircular arches within. On each side of the entrances there are ticket offices, and adjacent to them rooms are provided for the officers of the association, telegraph, &c.

The rapid and unexpected increase of the applications of exhibitors, induced the association to erect a large addition to the building already described. It consists of two parts, of one and two stories respectively, and occupies the entire space between the main building and the reservoir. Its length is four hundred and fifty-one feet and five inches, and its extreme width is seventy-five feet. It is 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, which is nearly four hundred and fifty feet long, twenty-one feet wide, and extends the whole length, is entirely devoted to the exhibition of pictures and statuary. It is lighted from a skylight, four hundred and nineteen feet long, and eight feet and six inches wide.

The decorations of the building were intrusted to Henry Greenough, Esq., brother of the lamented sculptor of the same name. Mr. Greenough has made art his study, and in its pursuit has resided long in Italy. The leading idea in the plan of decoration, has been to bring out the beautiful construction of the building; to decorate construction rather than to construct decoration. To do this, and at the same time to preserve a general harmony of effect, has given Mr. Greenough ample opportunity to display his knowledge of the resources of his art. The result is surprisingly beautiful. The colors employed on the exterior are mixed in oil, the base being the white lead manufactured by the Bellville Company. The exterior presents the appearance of a building constructed of a light-colored bronze, of which all features purely ornamental are of gold. The interior has a prevailing tone of buff, or rich cream color, which is given to all the cast-iron constructive work. This color is 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 orange, (certain parts of the ornamental work being gilt,) to accord with the arrangement of colors employed in the decoration of the ceilings. The only exceptions to the use of oil colors are the ceilings of the American lean-to and the dome; these decorations are executed on canvas. The effect of the interior of the dome, (designed by Sr. Monte Lilia,) is particularly splendid. The rays from a golden sun, at the center, descend between the latticed ribs, and arabesques of white and blue, relieved by silver stars, surround the openings.

The building is supplied with gas and water in every part. The gas was, at first, designed for the use of the police, in protecting the property by night; but was so arranged that now, when the building is opened in the evenings, it affords the most ample light throughout the entire edifice. The water is accessible at numerous points, with convenience for drinking, also for the attachment of hose, in case of fire.

The whole quantity of iron employed in the construction amounts to eighteen hundred tuns; of which three hundred tuns are wrought and fifteen hundred tuns cast iron. The quantity of glass is fifteen thousand panes, or fifty-five thousand square feet. The quantity of wood used amounts to seven hundred and fifty thousand feet, board measure.

The general mode of erection by base pieces, columns, connecting pieces and girders, is the same with that of the great Hyde park building, but the construction of the arched nave, and of the dome, is of course entirely peculiar, and the general effect of the building is completely different. The London building was certainly deficient in architectural effect. The form of the New York edifice affords the requisite scope for a pleasing variety of embellishments, by which all monotony can be avoided, and allows a very economical use of the ground. The dome, independent of its effect in the interior arrangement of the edifice, will give hight and majesty to the exterior.

To complete the explanation of the construction of the building, we recapitulate its principal dimensions.

Ft. In.
From principal floor to gallery floor, 24
From principal floor to top of second tier of girders, 44 4⅜
From principal floor to top of third tier of girders, 59 10
From principal floor to ridge of nave, 67 4
From principal floor to top of bed-plate, 69 11
From principal floor to top of upper ring of dome, 123 6
From Sixth avenue curb-stone to top of lantern, 151
From Sixth avenue curb-stone to top of towers, 76 9
Area of first floor, 157,195 square feet.
Area of second floor, 92,496 square feet.
—-—--
Total area, 249,692 or 5¾ acres.

The magnitude of these proportions alone, is calculated to excite feelings of profound awe in the spectator’s mind; and when we see added the gorgeous but subdued chromatic decoration with which the interior is ornamented, and the innumerable works of art and industry with which it is so richly filled, we may well be proud of an erection which is destined to confer lasting honor on the American name.

It was to be hoped that this splendid building, filled with the products of the industry and art of all nations, might have remained permanently in New York, to be an ornament to the city, and a museum for the entertainment and instruction of visitors from every part of the country and the world; but since the above was written, it has been decided that the building is to be taken down, either for removal to some other place, or for the sale of its materials.

THE CRYSTAL PALACE IN LONDON.

Having spoken of the New York crystal palace, we now pass to the crystal palace of London, which preceded the former in the order of time, and far surpassed it in size and magnificence. This splendid building, erected for the great exhibition of 1851, was located on the south side of Hyde park, near the Kensington road, in a position highly favorable in all respects to its intended objects. The construction of the edifice presented not a few difficulties. The building committee, comprising some of the leading architects and engineers of Great Britain, advertised for plans to be presented for the building; and as the result, no less than two hundred and forty designs were laid before them. A large part of these were at once put aside as utterly worthless; and then from about sixty, which were thought worthy of consideration, the committee proceeded to prepare a design which pleased nobody, not even themselves. This plan, however, such as it was, was decided upon, and advertisements were issued for proposals to build it. Objections were at once raised, both against the plan proposed, and the possibility of its execution; but while the committee, perplexed with the difficulties suggested, were doubting what they should do, relief came to them from an unexpected quarter, which we must go back a little to explain.

In 1839, Sir Robert Schomburg, a distinguished botanist, in going up the river Berbice, in Demerara, had discovered in the still waters of the stream, a gigantic water-lily, of a shape hitherto unknown, and had transmitted some of its seeds to England, where the plant growing from them, under the care of Joseph Paxton, the head gardener of the Duke of Devonshire, was called the Victoria Regia. This plant was the occasion, and in some respects the model for the crystal palace. Every means was adopted to place this wonderful exotic in its accustomed circumstances. A tropical soil was formed for it, of burned loam and peat. Coal-heat was substituted for that of the tropical sun; and by means of a wheel, a ripple, like that of its native river, was communicated to the waters of the tank upon which its broad leaves reposed in beauty. In these circumstances the lily grew luxuriantly, and Mr. Paxton was obliged to plan an edifice capable of holding it. This he was doing just about the time when the committee were poring wearily over their two hundred and forty plans; and in June, he drew out a design for the exhibition building, which had been suggested to his mind while preparing an abode for the Victoria Regia. In ten days he had completed his elevations, sections, working plans and specifications; and the whole being submitted to the inspection of competent and influential persons, was unanimously declared to be practicable, and the only practicable scheme presented.

The design, thus prepared, was next laid before the contractors, Messrs. Fox & Henderson, who at once determined to submit a tender for the construction of a building in accordance with it. And in a single week, they had calculated the amount and cost of every pound of iron, every pane of glass, every foot of wood, and every hour of labor, which would be required, and were prepared with an offer and specifications for the construction of the edifice. But here arose a difficulty. The committee had advertised only for proposals for carrying out their own design; but, fortunately, they had invited the suggestion, on the part of contractors, of any improvements on it; and so Mr. Paxton’s plan was presented simply as “an improvement” upon that of the committee, though it had not a single feature in common with it. This, with certain modifications, was adopted; and the result was the celebrated crystal palace, the first of the name, and the suggester of all others of the same general character—the great, _original_ crystal palace; itself the greatest wonder of the most wonderful exhibition the world has ever seen!

The building consisted, or rather still consists, of three series of elevations, of the respective hights of sixty-four, forty-four, and twenty-four feet, intersected at the central point of meeting, by a transept of seventy-two feet in width, having a semicircular roof rising to the hight of one hundred and eight feet in the center. It extended in length eighteen hundred and fifty-one feet from north to south, or more than one-third of a mile, with a breadth of four hundred and fifty-six feet on the ground; thus covering a surface of some eighteen acres, or nearly double the extent of Washington square in New York, and exceeding, by more than one-half, the dimensions of the Park or the Battery. The whole rested upon cast-iron pillars, united by bolts and nuts, fixed to flanges perfectly true, so that if the socket was placed level, the columns and connecting pieces could not but stand upright; and in point of fact, not a single crooked line, it is said, was discoverable in the combination of such an immense number of pieces in the building as first erected, or as it now stands. For the support of the columns, holes were dug in the ground, in each of which was placed a bed of concrete, and upon this rested the iron sockets, of from three to four feet in length, according to the level of the ground; to which sockets the columns were firmly attached by bolts and nuts. At the top, each column was attached by a girder to its opposite column, both longitudinally and transversely, so that the whole eighteen acres of pillars were securely framed together.

The roofs, of which there were five, one to each of the elevations, were constructed on the ridge and furrow principle, and glazed with sheets of glass of forty-nine inches in length. The construction will be easily understood, by imagining a series of parallel rows of the letter V, extending (thus, VVV) in uninterrupted lines the whole length of the building. The apex of each ridge was formed by a wooden sash-bar, with notches on each side for holding the laths in which the edges of the glass were fitted. The bottom bar, or rafter, was hollowed at the top, so as to form a gutter to carry off the water, which passed through transverse gutters into the iron columns, which were made hollow so as to serve as water-pipes; while in the base of each column a horizontal pipe was inserted to convey the accumulated water into the sewers. The exhalations from so large a surface, from the plants and from the breath of the innumerable visitors, rising against the glass and there being condensed, would, if the roof had been _flat_, have descended in the form of a perpetual mist, or dropping rain; but it was found that from glass pitched at a particular angle, the moisture did not _fall_, but would glide down its surface. The bottom bars, therefore, were grooved on the inside, thus forming interior gutters, by which the moisture found its way down the interior of the columns, and thus through the drainage pipes into the sewers. These grooved rafters, of which the total length was two hundred and five miles, were formed by machinery, at a single operation.

The lower tier of the building was boarded; the walls of the upper portion being composed, like the roof, of glass. Ventilation was provided for by the basement portion being walled with iron plates, placed at an angle of forty-five degrees, known as _luffer-boarding_, which admits the air freely, while it excludes the rain. A similar provision was made at the top of each tier of the building; the plates all being so constructed that they could be closed at pleasure. In order to subdue the intense light in a building having such an immense extent of glass surface, the whole roof and the south side were covered with canvas, which also precluded any possible injury from hail, as well as rendered the edifice much cooler than it otherwise would have been.

In the construction of the building the utmost care was taken to give each part the stiffest and strongest form possible in a given quantity of material. The columns were hollow; and the girders which united them were trellis-formed. The utmost weight which it was supposed any girder would be likely to have upon it, was seven and a half tuns; and not one was used till after having been tested to the extent of fifteen tuns; while the breaking weight was calculated at thirty tuns. At first sight it would seem as if there might be danger that a building presenting so vast a surface to the action of the wind, might be liable to be blown down, or at least forced out of position. But from the manner in which the columns were framed together, they could not be overthrown except by breaking them; and experiments showed, that in order to break the one thousand and sixty columns on the ground floor, a force of sixty-three hundred and sixty tuns must be exerted, at a hight of twenty-four feet. But the greatest force of the wind known, is computed at twenty-two pounds to the superficial foot; so that assuming even a force of twenty-eight pounds, and supposing a hurricane with that momentum to strike at once the whole side of the building, the total force, it was said, would be less than fifteen hundred tuns, not one-fourth what the building could easily sustain, independently of the bracings, which added materially to its strength. So that, if any reliance at all could be placed on theoretical engineering, there could, it was said, be no doubt whatever but that the building would be safe in the most violent tempest.

The building being thus erected, the spectator entering at the main east or west entrance, found himself in a nave sixty-four feet in hight, and seventy-two in breadth, and extending without interruption the whole length of the building, one-third of a mile. Parallel with this, but interrupted by the transept in the center, was a series of side aisles, of forty-eight and twenty-four feet in breadth, and with a hight of forty-four and twenty-four feet. And over the center of the nave, swelled the semicircular roof of the transept, overarching the stately trees beneath; thus forming a gigantic green-house, with the ancient elms of the park in the place of geraniums and rose-bushes. The whole area of the ground-floor was seven hundred and seventy-two thousand, seven hundred and eighty-four square feet, and that of the galleries, two hundred and seventeen thousand; making in all nearly a million square feet, to which should be added five hundred thousand feet of hanging space, available for the display of the innumerable products of human skill and labor, that made the exhibition one of the most wondrous of all the wonders of the world.

There were three refreshment rooms; one in the transept, and one near each end of the building, around the huge trees of the park, which, as already said, were left standing. No wine, spirits or fermented liquors were allowed to be sold, but only tea, coffee and unfermented drinks; while pure water was to be furnished gratis to all, by the lessees of the refreshment rooms. As to the decoration of the interior, it may here be added, that the shafts of all the columns were painted yellow; the concave portions of the capitals, blue; the under sides of the girders, red; and their vertical surfaces, white.

We might dwell in detail on the vast collection of the products of human industry and art which filled the interior of this immense structure, and made it the resort of visitors from every part of the world. But the history of “the great exhibition” is familiar to most if not all of our readers. We will only add, that among all the wonders of the crystal palace, nothing was more wonderful than its cheapness, and the rapidity of its construction. Possession of the site was obtained on the thirtieth of July; and in a period of one hundred and forty-five working days, the building was mainly completed. Its _cost_ was less, by the cubic foot, than an ordinary barn. If it had been used only for the exhibition, and at its close returned to the contractors, its cost would have been nine-sixteenths of a penny per foot; and if it had been left remaining permanently, it would have been but one penny and one-twelfth of a penny per foot. The astonishing fact, that a building of glass and iron, including thirty-three million cubic feet, and covering eighteen acres, and affording room for nine miles of tables, should have been completed in less than five months from the day when the contract was entered into, at a cost less than that of the humblest hovel, opens a new era in the art of building.

Silliman, in his late “Visit to Europe,” under the date of the twenty-ninth of March, 1851, says: “Into this wonderful and imposing structure we have to-day merely made our entrance. As we drove along the eastern side of Hyde park, on a bright and beautiful morning, the splendid vision caught our eyes, as the sunlight was thrown wide around by this immense mirror. It was merely a glance that we took on this occasion, reserving more deliberate observation for future opportunities. It was not accessible, as yet, to visitors, but by particular favor, through an introduction to one of the managers, we were admitted into the interior. It has become so familiar, in all its aspects, to the whole world, that at this date, after its complete development, any detailed description would be out of place. The general impression made upon us, by our walks through this stupendous conservatory of the arts, was that of great splendor and magnificence. It appeared a fairy palace, like the creations of fable; a building equally unique and original in its structure; original, also, in its bearing upon the concord and amicable rivalry of nations; in this respect of most auspicious tendency. Already the consignments of the world are coming in, and to a great extent have actually arrived. African Tunis sends its contributions, and even more remote countries are beginning to occupy the large space allotted to them. The palace is so high as to cover several of the large trees of Hyde park, where it is erected; and we saw, not without a shudder, a man dangling in the air at the end of a rope near the roof, at the hight of eighty feet. He had been drawn up simply by holding on the end of the rope by his hands, and was whirled around and around, until he reached a plank almost in the angle of the roof, where at last he was safely landed.”