INTRODUCTION.

Line

Themapof the routes to the Crystal Palace will enable the visitor to ascertain the shortest and least troublesome way of reaching the Palace from the various parts of the great metropolis and its environs. The railway communication is by the London and Brighton, and the West End Railways, which serve as the great main lines for the conveyance of visitors by rail from London to the Palace doors.

We will presume that the visitor has taken his railway ticket, which, for his convenience, includes admission within the Palace, and that his twenty minutes’ journey has commenced. Before he alights, and whilst his mind is still unoccupied by the wonders that are to meet his eye, we take the opportunity to relate, as briefly as we can, the History of the Crystal Palace, from the day upon which the Royal Commissioners assembled within its transparent walls to declare their great and successful mission ended, until the 10th of June, 1854, when reconstructed, and renewed and beautified in all its proportions, it again opened its wide doors to continue and confirm the good it had already effected in the nation and beyond it.

It will be remembered that the destination of the Great Exhibition building occupied much public attention towards the close of 1851, and that a universal regret prevailed at the threatened loss of a structure which had accomplished so much for the improvement of the national taste, and which was evidently capable, under intelligent direction, of effecting so very much more. A special commission even had been appointed for the purpose of reporting on the different useful purposes to which the building could be applied, and upon the cost necessary to carry them out. Further discussion on the subject, however, was rendered unnecessary bythe declaration of the Home Secretary, on the 25th of March, 1852, that Government had determined not to interfere in any way with the building, which accordingly remained, according to previous agreement, in the hands of Messrs. Fox and Henderson, the builders and contractors. Notwithstanding the announcement of the Home Secretary, a last public effort towards rescuing the Crystal Palace for its original site in Hyde Park, was made by Mr. Heywood in the House of Commons, on the 29th of April. But Government again declined the responsibility of purchasing the structure, and Mr. Heywood’s motion was, by a large majority, lost.

It was at this juncture that Mr. Leech,[1]a private gentleman, conceived the idea of rescuing the edifice from destruction, and of rebuilding it on some appropriate spot, by the organisation of a private company. On communicating this view to his partner, Mr. Farquhar, he received from him a ready and cordial approval. They then submitted their project to Mr. Francis Fuller, who entering into their views, undertook and arranged, on their joint behalf, a conditional purchase from Messrs. Fox and Henderson, of the Palace as it stood. In the belief that a building, so destined, would, if erected on a metropolitan line of railway, greatly conduce to the interests of the line, and that communication by railway was essential for the conveyance thither of great masses from London, Mr. Farquhar next suggested to Mr. Leo Schuster, a Director of the Brighton Railway, that a site for the new Palace should be selected on the Brighton line. Mr. Schuster, highly approving of the conception, obtained the hearty concurrence of Mr. Laing, the Chairman of the Brighton Board, and of his brother Directors, for aiding as far as possible in the prosecution of the work. And, accordingly, these five gentlemen, and their immediate friends determined forthwith to complete the purchase of the building. On the 24th of May, 1852, the purchase-money was paid, and a few English gentlemen became the owners of the Crystal Palace of 1851. Their namesfollow:—

Original Purchasers of the Building.

[1]Of the firm of Johnston, Farquhar, and Leech, Solicitors.

It will hardly be supposed that these gentlemen had proceeded thus far without having distinctly considered the final destination of their purchase. They decided that the building—the first wonderful example of a new style of architecture—should rise again greatly enhanced in grandeur and beauty; that it should form a Palace for the multitude, where, at all times, protected from the inclement varieties of our climate, healthful exercise and wholesome recreation should be easily attainable. To raise the enjoyments and amusements of the English people, and especially to afford to the inhabitants of London, in wholesome country air, amidst the beauties of nature, the elevating treasures of art, and the instructive marvels of science, an accessible and inexpensive substitute for the injurious and debasing amusements of a crowded metropolis;—to blend for them instruction with pleasure, to educate them by the eye, to quicken and purify their taste by the habit of recognising the beautiful;—to place them amidst the trees, flowers, and plants of all countries and of all climates, and to attract them to the study of the natural sciences, by displaying their most interesting examples;—and making known all the achievements of modern industry, and the marvels of mechanical manufactures;—such were some of the original intentions of the first promoters of this national undertaking.

Having decided upon their general design, and upon the scale on which it should be executed, the Directors next proceeded to select the officers to whom the carrying out of the work should be entrusted. SirJoseph Paxton, the inventive architect of the great building in Hyde Park,was requested to accept the office of Director of the Winter Garden, Park, and Conservatory, an office of which the duties became subsequently much more onerous and extensive than the title implies. Mr.Owen Jonesand Mr.Digby Wyatt, who had distinguished themselves by their labours in the old Crystal Palace, accepted the duties of Directors of the Fine Art Department, and of the decorations of the new structure. Mr.Charles Wild, the engineer of the old building, filled the same office in the new one. Mr.Grove, the secretary of the Society of Arts, the parent institution of the Exhibition of 1851, was appointed Secretary. Mr.Samuel Phillipswas made Director of the Literary Department. Mr.Francis Fuller, a member of the Hyde Park Executive Committee, accepted the duties of Managing Director, Mr.Samuel Laing, M.P., the chairman of the Brighton Railway Company, became Chairman also of the New Crystal Palace, and Messrs.FoxandHendersonundertook the re-erection of the building.

With these arrangements, a Company was formed, under the name of the Crystal Palace Company, and a prospectus issued, announcing the proposed capital of £500,000, in one hundred thousand shares of £5 each. The following gentlemen constituted the Board ofDirectors:—

The present Board is constituted asfollows:—

It will ever be mentioned to the credit of the English people, that within a fortnight after the issue of the Company’s prospectus the shares were taken up to an extent that gave the Directors ample encouragement to proceed vigorously with their novel and gigantic undertaking.

In the prospectus it was proposed to transfer the building to Sydenham, in Kent, and the site chosen was an irregular parallelogram of three hundred acres,[2]extending from the Brighton Railway to the road which forms the boundary of the Dulwich Wood at the top of the hill, the fall from which to the railway is two hundred feet. It was at once felt that the summit of this hill was the only position, in all the ground, for the great glass building: a position which, on the one side, commands a beautiful view of the fine counties of Surrey and Kent, and on the other a prospect of the great metropolis. This site was chosen, and we doubt whether a finer is to be found so close to London, and so easy of access by means of railway. To facilitate the conveyance of passengers, the Brighton Railway Company—under special and mutually advantageous arrangements—undertook to lay down a new line of rails between London and Sydenham, to construct a branchfrom the Sydenham station to the Crystal Palace garden, and to build a number of engines sufficiently powerful to draw heavy trains up the steep incline to the Palace.

[2]A portion of this land, not required for the purposes of the Palace, has been disposed of.

And now the plans were put into practical and working shape. The building was to gain in strength and artistic effect, whilst the contents of the mighty structure were to be most varied. Art was to be worthily represented by Architecture and Sculpture. Architectural restorations were to be made, and Architectural specimens from the most remarkable edifices throughout the world, to be collected, in order to present a grand architectural sequence from the earliest dawn of the art down to the latest times. Casts of the most celebrated works of Sculpture were to be procured: so that within the glass walls might be seen a vast historical gallery of this branch of art, from the time of the ancient Egyptians to our own era. Nature, also, was to put forth her beauty throughout the Palace and Grounds. A magnificent collection of plants of every land was to adorn the glass structure within, whilst in the gardens the fountains of Versailles were to be outrivalled, and Englishmen at length enabled to witness the water displays which for years had proved a source of pleasure and recreation to foreigners in their own countries. Nor was this all. All those sciences, an acquaintance with which is attainable through the medium of the eye, were allotted their specific place, and Geology, Ethnology, and Zoology were taken as best susceptible of illustration; Professor Edward Forbes, Dr. Latham, Professor Ansted, Mr. Waterhouse, Mr. Gould, and other gentlemen well known in the scientific world, undertaking to secure the material basis upon which the intellectual service was to be grounded. To prevent the monotony that attaches to a mere museum arrangement, in which glass cases are ordinarily the most prominent features, the whole of the collected objects, whether of science, art, or nature, were to be arranged in picturesque groupings, and harmony was to reign throughout. To give weight to their proceedings, and to secure lasting advantage to the public, a charter was granted by Lord Derby’s Government on the 28th of January, 1853, binding the Directors and their successors to preserve the high moral and social tone which, from the outset, they had assumed for their National Institution.

The building paid for, the officers retained, the plans put on paper—Messrs. Fox and Henderson received instructions to convey the Palace to its destined home at Sydenham, and the work of removal now commenced. The first column of the new structurewas raised by Mr. Laing, M.P., the Chairman of the Company, on the 5th August, 1852; the works were at once proceeded with, and the most active and strenuous efforts thenceforth made towards the completion of the undertaking. Shortly after the erection of the first column, Messrs. Owen Jones and Digby Wyatt were charged with a mission to the Continent, in order to procure examples of the principal works of art in Europe. They were fortified by Lord Malmesbury, then Secretary of State, with letters to the several ambassadors on their route, expressing the sympathy of the Government in the object of their travels, and backed by the liberal purse of the Company, who required, for themselves, only that the collection should prove worthy of the nation for which they were caterers.

The travellers first of all visited Paris, and received the most cordial co-operation of the Government, and of the authorities at the Museum of the Louvre, and the Ecole des Beaux Arts. The permission to obtain casts of any objects which could with safety be taken was at once accorded them. From Paris they proceeded to Italy, and thence to Germany, in both which countries they experienced, generally, a ready and generous compliance with their wishes. At Munich they received especial attention, and were most kindly assisted by the British Ambassador, and the architect Baron von Klenze, through whose instrumentality and influence King Louis permitted casts of the most choice objects in the Glyptothek for the first time to be taken.

The chief exceptions to the general courtesy were at Rome, Padua, and Vienna. At the first-named city every arrangement had been made for procuring casts of the great Obelisk of the Lateran, the celebrated antique equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitol, the beautiful monuments by Andrea Sansovino in the Church of S. M. del Popolo, the interesting bas-reliefs from the Arch of Titus, and other works, when an order from the Papal Government forbade the copies to be taken: and, accordingly, for the present, our collection, as regards these valuable subjects, is incomplete.

At Padua contracts had been made for procuring that masterpiece of Renaissance art, the candelabrum of Riccio, the entire series of bronzes by Donatello, and several other important works in the Church of St. Anthony; but, in spite of numerous appeals, aided by the influence of Cardinal Wiseman, the capitular authorities refused their consent.

At Vienna agreements had been entered into for procuring amost important series of monuments from the Church of St Stephen, in that city; including the celebrated stone pulpit, and the monument of Frederic III. A contract had also been made for obtaining a cast of the grand bronze statue of Victory, at Brescia; but although the influence of Lord Malmesbury and Lord Westmoreland (our ambassador at Vienna) was most actively exerted, permission was absolutely refused by the Austrian authorities in Lombardy, as well as in Vienna itself. Thus much it is necessary to state in order to justify the Directors of the Crystal Palace in the eyes of the world for omissions in their collection which hitherto they have not had power to make good. They are not without hope, however, that the mere announcement of these deficiencies will be sufficient to induce the several Governments to take a kindly view of the requests that have been made to them, and to participate in the satisfaction that follows every endeavour to advance human enjoyment.

In England, wherever application has been made, permission—with one exception—has been immediately granted by the authorities, whether ecclesiastical or civil, to take casts of any monuments required. The one interesting exception deserves a special record. The churchwardens of Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, enjoy the privilege of being able to refuse a cast of the celebrated Percy Shrine, the most complete example of purely English art in our country; and in spite of the protestations of the Archbishop of York, the Duke of Northumberland, Archdeacon Wilberforce, Sir Charles Barry and others, half the churchwardens in question insist, to this hour, upon their right to have their enjoyment without molestation. The visitors to the Crystal Palace cannot therefore, as yet, see the Percy Shrine.

Whilst Messrs. Jones and Wyatt were busy abroad, the authorities were no less occupied at home. Sir Joseph Paxton commenced operations by securing for the Company the extensive and celebrated collection of palms and other plants, brought together with the labour of a century, by Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney. The valuable assistance of Mr. Fergusson and Mr. Layard, M.P., was obtained for the erection of a Court to illustrate the architecture of the long-buried buildings of Assyria; and a large space in the Gardens was devoted to illustrating the Geology of the antediluvian period, and exhibiting specimens of the gigantic animals living before the flood.

As soon as the glass structure was sufficiently advanced, the valuable productions of art which Messrs. Jones and Wyatt hadacquired abroad rapidly arrived, and being received into the building, the erection of the Fine Art Courts commenced. To carry out these works, artisans of almost every continental nation, together with workmen of our own country, were employed; and it is worthy of note, that although, but a few years before, many of the nations to which these men belonged were engaged in deadly warfare against each other, and some of them opposed to our own country, yet, in the Crystal Palace, these workmen laboured for months, side by side, with the utmost good feeling, and without the least display of national jealousy.

To the whole of these workmen, foreigners and English, engaged in the Crystal Palace, the Directors are anxious to express their obligations and sincere acknowledgments. They recognise the value of their labours, and are fully aware that, if to the minds of a Few the public are indebted for the conception of the grand Idea now happily realised, to the Many we owe its practical existence. Throughout the long and arduous toil, they exhibited—allowance being made for some slight and perhaps unavoidable differences—an amount of zeal, steadiness, and intelligence which does honour to them, and to the several nations which they represent. To all—their due! If the creations of the mind stand paramount in our estimation, let appropriate honour be rendered to the skill of hand and eye, which alone can give vitality and form to our noblest conceptions. Of the advantages attendant on the erection of the Crystal Palace, even before the public were admitted to view its contents, none was more striking than the education it afforded to those who took part in its production. For the first time in England, hundreds of men received practical instruction—in a national Fine Art School—from which society must derive a lasting benefit. It is not too much to hope that each man will act as a missionary of art and ornamental industry, in whatever quarter his improved faculties may hereafter be required.

At one time during the progress of the works as many as 6,400 men were engaged in carrying out the designs of the Directors. Besides the labours already mentioned, Mr. B. Waterhouse Hawkins, in due time, took possession of a building in the grounds, and was soon busily employed, under the eye of Professor Owen, in the reproduction of those animal creations of a past age, our acquaintance with which has hitherto been confined to fossil remains. Dr. Latham was engaged in designing and giving instructions for the modelling of figures to illustrate the Ethnological department,whilst Mr. Waterhouse and Mr. Gould, aided by Mr. Thomson, as superintendent, and Mr. Bartlett, as taxidermist, were collecting and grouping valuable specimens of birds and animals to represent the science of Zoology. Towards the exhibition of the articles of industry, six architects were commissioned to erect special courts for the reception of the principal manufactures, and agents were employed in various parts of England to receive the applications of intending exhibitors.

Such are a few of the operations that for the first few months went forward in, and in respect of, the Crystal Palace; and, excepting by those whose business it was to watch the progress of the works, no adequate idea can be formed of the busy activity that prevailed within the building and without, or of the marvellous manner in which the various parts of the structure seemed to grow under the hands of the workmen, until it assumed the exquisite proportions which it now possesses. It remains to state that, whereas the parent edifice in Hyde Park rose under the eye and direction of Sir Charles Fox, the present building was constructed under the superintendence of Sir Charles’s partner, the late Mr. Henderson, aided throughout his long and arduous labours by Mr. Cochrane, his intelligent and indefatigable assistant. Mr. William Earee has been the Company’s Clerk of the Works from the raising of the first column, and still occupies that position.

Her Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince Consort have been, from the first, graciously pleased to express their warmest sympathy with the undertaking, and visited the Palace several times during the progress of the works. In honouring the inauguration of the Palace with her royal presence, her Majesty gave the best proof of the interest she takes in an institution which—like the great structure originated by her Royal Consort—has for its chief object the advancement of civilisation and the welfare of her subjects.[3]

[3]The Queen’s apartments in the Crystal Palace, destined for the reception of her Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince Consort, when they honour the Exhibition with their presence, have been erected by Messrs. J. G. Crace and Co., in the Italian style. This beautiful suite of apartments, which are placed at the north end of the building, consists of a large entrance vestibule with architectural ornaments, and painted arabesque decorations. A long corridor leads from the vestibule to the several apartments, and is formed into an arched passage by means of circular-headed doorways, before which hangportières, or curtains. To the right of the entrance are two rooms, one appropriated to the ladies-in-waiting, and the other to the equerries; the walls of both being divided into panels, and decorated in the Italian style. On the left are the apartments for the use of her Majesty and the Prince Consort, consisting of a drawing-room and two retiring rooms. The walls of the drawing-room are divided by pilasters, the panels covered with green silk. The cove of the ceiling is decorated with arabesque ornaments.

In taking the structure of the Great Exhibition of 1851—that type of a class of architecture which may fairly be called “Modern English”[4]—as the model for the new building at Sydenham, the projectors found it necessary to make such modifications and improvements as were suggested by the difference between a temporary receiving-house for the world’s industrial wealth, and a permanent Palace of Art and Education, intended for the use of mankind long after its original founders should have passed away. Not only, however, have increased strength and durability been considered, but beauty and artistic effect have come in for a due share of attention. The difference of general aspect between the present Palace and its predecessor is visible at a glance. In the parent edifice, the external appearance, although grand, was monotonous; the long flat roof was broken by only one transept, and the want of an elevation proportionate to the great length of the building was certainly displeasing. In the Sydenham Palace, an arched roof covers the nave—raising it forty-four feet higher than the nave in Hyde Park—and three transepts are introduced into the structure instead of one, the central transept towering into the air, and forming a hall to the Palace of surpassing brilliancy and lightness. A further improvement is the formation of recesses, twenty-four feet deep, in the garden fronts of all the transepts. These throw fine shadows, and take away from the continuous surface of plain glass walls: whilst the whole general arrangement of the exterior—the roofs of the side aisles rising step-like to the circular roof of the nave,—the interposition of low square towers at the junction of the nave and transepts,—the open galleries towards the garden front, the long wings stretching forth on either side—produce a play of light and shade, and break the building into parts, which, without in any way detracting from the grandeur and simplicity of the whole construction, or causing the parts themselves to appear mean or small, present a variety of surface that charms and fully satisfies the eye.

[4]We do not know any name more suitable to express the character of this iron and glass building than that which we have chosen. In Gothic architecture we have named one style “Early English,” and we think we may with equal propriety confer the title of “Modern English” upon the new order, which is essentially the creation of the nineteenth century, and which served to house one of the greatest national displays that England ever attempted—The Great Exhibition of 1851. The erection of the building both of 1851 and of 1854, it may be well to remark, is mainly due to the rapid advances made in this country in the manufactures of glass and iron, substances which with only moderate attention will defy the effects of time. The present structure is capable of enduring longer than the oldest marble or stone architectural monuments of antiquity. The iron, which forms its skeleton or framework, becomes, when painted, the most indestructible of materials, and the entire covering of glass may be renewed again and again without in any way interfering with the construction which it covers.

OPEN GALLERY TOWARDS THE GARDEN FRONT.

Unity in architecture is one of the most requisite and agreeable of its qualities: and certainly no building possesses it in a greater degree than the Crystal Palace. Its design is most simple: one portion corresponds with another; there is no introduction of needless ornament: a simplicity of treatment reigns throughout. Nor is this unity confined to the building. It characterises the contents of the glass structure, and prevails in the grounds. All the component parts of the Exhibition blend, yet all are distinct: and the effect of the admirable and harmonious arrangement is, that all confusion in the vast establishment, within and without, is avoided. “The mighty maze” has not only its plan, but a plan of the most lucid and instructive kind, and the visitor is enabled to examine every court, whether artistic or industrial; every object, whether of nature or of art, in regular order; so that, as in a well-arranged book, he may proceed from subject to subject at his discretion, and derive useful information without the trouble and vexation of working his way through a labyrinth.

All the materials employed in the Exhibition of 1851, with the exception of the glass on the whole roof, and the framing of the transept-roof, have been used in the construction of the Crystal Palace. The general principle of construction, therefore, is identical in the two buildings. The modifications that have taken place, and the reasons that have led to them, have already been stated. Two difficulties, however, which were unknown in Hyde Park, had to be provided against at Sydenham: viz., the loose nature of the soil, and the sloping character of the ground. Means were taken to overcome these difficulties at the very outset of the work. The disadvantage of soil was repaired by the introduction of masses of concrete and brickwork under each column, in order to secure breadth of base and stability of structure. The slanting ground was seized by Sir Joseph Paxton with his usual sagacity, in order to be converted from an obstacle into a positive advantage. The ground ran rapidly down towards the garden, and Sir Joseph accordingly constructed a lower or basement story towards thegarden front, by means of which not only increased space was gained, but a higher elevation secured to the whole building, and the noblest possible view. The lower story is sufficiently large to serve as a department for the exhibition of Machinery in Motion, and a very interesting exhibition of Agricultural Implements, which important branches of science and human industry will thus be contemplated apart from other objects. Behind this space, towards the interior of the building, is a capacious horizontal brick shaft, twenty-four feet wide, extending the whole length of the building, and denominated “Sir Joseph Paxton’s Tunnel” (A). Leading out of this tunnel are the furnaces and boilers connected with the heating apparatus, together with brick recesses for the stowage of coke. The tunnel itself is connected with the railway, and is used as a roadway for bringing into, and taking from, the Palace all objects of art and of industry; an arrangement that leaves the main floor of the building independent of all such operations. Behind the tunnel, and towards the west, the declivity of the ground is met by means of brick piers of the heights necessary to raise the foundation pieces of the columns to the level at which they rest on the summit of the hill.

Structure

The building consists, above the basement floor, of a grand central nave, two side aisles, two main galleries, three transepts, and two wings. It will be remembered, that in Hyde Park an imposing effect was secured by the mere repetition of a column and a girder, which, although striking and simple, was certainly monotonous; and, moreover, in consequence of the great length of the building, the columns and girders succeeded one another so rapidly that the eye had no means of measuring the actual length. At Sydenham, pairs of columns and girders are advanced eight feet into the naveat every seventy-two feet, thus breaking the uniform straight line, and enabling the eye to measure and appreciate the distance.

The building above the level of the floor is entirely of iron and glass, with the exception of a portion at the west front, which is panelled with wood. The whole length of the main building is 1,608 feet, and the wings 574 feet each, making a length of 2,756 feet, which with the 720 feet in the colonnade, leading from the railway station to the wings, gives a total length of 3,476 feet; or nearly three-quarters of a mile of ground covered with a transparent roof of glass.

Visitors are fond of reverting to the old building in Hyde Park, and of comparing it with the present structure; in order to help the comparison, we furnish, side by side, the exact measurements of the two buildings; from which it will be seen that either building exceeds the other, in some of its proportions.

Though not exactly in the direction of the cardinal points, the two ends of the building are generally called north and south, and the two fronts east and west.

The floor consists of boarding one inch and a half thick, laid as in the old building, with half-inch openings between them, and resting on joists, placed two feet apart, seven inches by two and a half inches thick. These joists are carried on sleepers and props eight feet apart. The girders which support the galleries and the roof-work, and carry the brick arches over the basement-floor, are of cast-iron, and are 24 feet in length. The connections between the girders and columns are applied in the same manner as in the building of 1851. The principle of connection was originally condemned by some men of standing in the scientific world; but experience has proved it to be sound and admirable in every respect. The mode of connection is not merely that of resting the girders on the columns in order to support the roofs and galleries, but the top and bottom of each girder are firmly secured to each of the columns, so that thegirder preserves the perpendicularity of the column, and secures lateral stiffness to the entire edifice. Throughout the building the visitor will notice, at certain intervals, diagonally placed, rods connected at the crossing, and uniting column with column. These are the diagonal bracings, or the rods provided to resist the action of the wind: they are strong enough to resist any strain that can be brought to bear against them, and are fitted with screwed connections and couplings, so that they can be adjusted with the greatest accuracy. The roof, from end to end, is on the Paxton ridge-and-furrow system, and the glass employed in the roof is1⁄13of an inch in thickness (21 oz. per foot). The discharge of the rain-water is effected by gutters, from which the water is conveyed down the inside of the columns, at the base of which are the necessary outlets leading to the main drains of the building. The first gallery is gained from the ground-floor by means of flights of stairs about 23 feet high; eight such flights being distributed over the building. This gallery is 24 feet wide, and devoted to the exhibition of articles of industry. The upper gallery is 8 feet wide, extending, like the other, round the building; it is gained from the lower gallery, by spiral staircases, of which there are eight. The greater number of these staircases are divided into two flights, each flight being 20 feet high; but in the centre transept the two staircases contain four flights of the same altitude. Round this upper gallery, at the very summit of the nave and transepts, as well as round the ground-floor of the building, are placed louvres, or ventilators, made of galvanised iron. By the opening or closing of these louvres—a service readily performed—the temperature of the Crystal Palace is so regulated that on the hottest day of summer, the dry parching heat mounts to the roof to be dismissed, whilst a pure and invigorating supply is introduced at the floor in its place, giving new life to the thirsty plant and fresh vigour to man. The coolness thus obtained within the Palace will be sought in vain on such a summer’s day outside the edifice.

The total length of columns employed in the construction of the main buildings and wings would extend, if laid in a straight line, to a distance of sixteen miles and a quarter. The total weight of iron used in the main building and wings amounts to 9,641 tons, 17 cwt., 1 quarter. The superficial quantity of glass used is 25 acres; and weighs 500 tons; if the panes were laid side by side, they would extend to a distance of 48 miles; if end to end, to the almost incredible length of 242 miles. To complete our statistics, we have further to add that the quantity of bolts and rivets distributed over themain structure and wings weighs 175 tons, 1 cwt., 1 quarter; that the nails hammered into the Palace increase its weight by 103 tons, 6 cwt., and that the amount of brick-work in the main building and wings is 15,391 cubic yards.

From the end of the south wing to the Crystal Palace Railway station, as above indicated, is a colonnade 720 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 18 feet high. It possesses a superficial area of 15,500 feet, and the quantity of iron employed in this covered passage is 60 tons; of glass 30,000 superficial feet.

But vast as are the proportions of the Crystal Palace, novel and scientific as is the principle of construction, we are in some degree prepared for this magnificent result of intellect and industry by the Great Exhibition of 1851. One arrangement, however, in the present structure admits of no comparison; for, in point of extent, it leaves all former efforts in the same direction far behind, and stands by itself unrivalled. We refer to the process of warming the atmosphere in the enormous Glass Palace to the mild and genial heat of Madeira, throughout our cold and damp English winter.

The employment of hot water as a medium for heating apartments seems to have been first hinted at in the year 1594, by Sir Hugh Platt, who, in a work entitled “The Jewel House of Art and Nature,” published in that year, suggests the use of hot water as a safe means of drying gunpowder, and likewise recommends it for heating a plant-house. In 1716, Sir Martin Triewald, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, proposed a scheme for heating a green-house by hot water; and a Frenchman, M. Bonnemain, a short time afterwards invented an apparatus for hatching chickens by the same means. In the early part of this century Sir Martin Triewald’s plan of heating was applied to conservatories, at St. Petersburgh; and a few years later, Bonnemain’s arrangement was introduced into England, where it has undergone several improvements, and occupied the attention of scientific men. The application of hot water to the heating of churches, public libraries, and other buildings, has been attended with considerable success, and it is now looked upon as the safest, as well as one of the most effectual artificial methods of heating.

The simple plan of heating by hot water is that which Sir Joseph Paxton has adopted for the Crystal Palace. But simple as the method undoubtedly is, its adaptation to the purposes of the Palace has cost infinite labour and anxious consideration: for hitherto it has remained an unsolved problem how far, and in what quantity, water could be made to travel through pipes—flowing and returningby means of the propulsion of heat from the boilers. At Chatsworth, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, the principle has been carried out on a large scale, and the experiment there tried has yielded data and proof: but in the present building, a greater extent of piping has been attached to the boilers than was ever before known, or even contemplated. In order to give the visitor some idea of the magnitude of the operation in question, it will be sufficient to state that the pipes for the conveyance of the hot water, laid under the floor of the main building, and around the wings, would, if placed in a straight line, and taken at an average circumference of 12 inches, stretch to a distance of more than 50 miles, and that the water in flowing from and returning to the boilers, travels one mile and three-quarters. But even with these extraordinary results obtained, the question as to the distance to which water can be propelled by means of heat is far from being definitely settled. Indeed, Sir Joseph Paxton and Mr. Henderson invented an ingenious contrivance, by means of which, should it ever be required, a much larger heating surface may be called forth at any time in any particular portion of the building.

The general arrangement of the Heating Apparatus may be described as follows:—Nearly twenty-four feet below the surface of the flooring of the main building, and leading out of “Sir Joseph Paxton’s Tunnel” (the name given to the roadway in the basement story, extending the whole length of the building on the side nearest the Gardens), are placed, at certain intervals, boiler-houses, each containing two boilers capable of holding 11,000 gallons of water. The boilers are twenty-two in number, and are set in pairs. In addition to these, a boiler is placed at the north end of the building, on account of the increased heat there required for the tropical plants. There are also two boilers set in the lower stories of each wing, and two small boilers are appropriated to the water in the fountain basins at each end of the building, which contain Victoria Regias and other aquatic plants of tropical climes. Four pipes are immediately connected with each boiler; two of such pipes convey the water from the boiler, and the other two bring it back; they are called the main pipes, and are nine inches in diameter.

Of the two pipes that convey the water from the boiler, one crosses the building transversely—from the garden-front to the opposite side. Connected with this pipe, at certain distances, and in allotted numbers, are smaller pipes, five inches in diameter, laid horizontally, and immediately beneath the flooring of the building.These convey the water from the main pipe to certain required distances, and then bring it back to thereturnmain pipe, through which it flows into the boiler. The second main pipe conveys the water for heating the front of the building next to the Garden; and connected with this, as with the other main pipe, are smaller pipes through which the water ramifies, and then, in like manner, is returned to the boiler. Thus, then, by the mere propulsion of heat, a vast quantity of water is kept in constant motion throughout the Palace, continually flowing and returning, and giving out warmth that makes its way upwards, and disseminates a genial atmosphere in every part.

To ensure pure circulation throughout the winter, ventilators have been introduced direct from the main building into each furnace, where the air, so brought, being consumed by the fire, the atmosphere in the Palace is continually renewed.

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