Midtown South in Manhattan in New York County, New York — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
The Crystal Palace
“... beautiful beyond description” – Mark Twain
To house the exhibition, Georg Carstensen, and Charles Gildemeister designed a remarkable iron-and-glass structure, much like an enormous greenhouse. The building was inspired by the one built in London for its exhibition two years earlier, also called the Crystal Palace.
The Crystal Palace was one of the largest and most sophisticated designs that had ever been built in America. Octagonal in plan, it was surmounted by a soaring 123-foot-high dome, and inspired American architects and builders with the possibilities of iron construction. The exhibition hall comprised fifteen thousand panels of glass.
Four thousand exhibitors filled the hall with the industrial wares, consumer goods, and art works of the nation. Elisha Graves Otis, a young inventor and entrepreneur, staged one of the most dramatic of the exhibits. Otis had been promoting his steam-powered elevators, but what, people wondered, would happen should the cable break? To allay such fears, he invented the automatic safety brake – but he had to demonstrate the invention.
Otis erected a high platform connected to one of his elevators. He himself got in the cab, and cut the cable. As the cab fell, his new spring-leaf safety brake was successfully activated.
A prominent New York merchant of china and glassware, who may have witnessed Otis’s demonstration at the fair, ordered and installed the invention in his new store at Broadway and Broome Street. The safety elevator in the Haughwout Building, completed in 1857 (and still standing), was the first in the world to be installed in a commercial building.
The exhibition set off one of the first major tourism booms in New York, and many hotels were built. One visitor was seventeen-year-old Samuel Langhorne Clemens of Hannibal, Missouri. Later, as Mark Twain, he wrote that the Crystal Place was “beautiful beyond description,” and marveled that the six thousand daily visitors to the exhibition were double the population of his hometown. Over one million people visited the Crystal Palace Exhibition before it closed on November 1, 1854. Despite its popularity, exhibition sponsors lost $300,000.
After the fair, the structure, believed to be fireproof, was leased for a variety of purposes. On October 5, 1858, in a spectacular blaze it burned to the ground. Remarkably, no lives were lost.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Notable Buildings. A significant historical date for this entry is July 14, 1938.
Location. 40° 45.268′ N, 73° 59.039′ W. Marker is in Manhattan, New York, in New York County. It is in Midtown South. Marker can be reached from the intersection of West 42nd Street and 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas). This marker is located in Bryant Park which is bounded by West 42nd Street, 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas), West 40th Street and the New York Public Library. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: New York NY 10018, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Welcome to Bryant Park (here, next to this marker); About them Belgians and their Wafels! (here, next to this marker); Our Story (here, next to this marker); 5 Fun facts about Wafels and dinges (here, next to this marker); a different marker also named Welcome to Bryant Park (a few steps from this marker); Pétanque (a few steps from this marker); Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain (within shouting distance of this marker); Andrada (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Manhattan.
Also see . . .
1. New York Crystal Palace - Wikipedia. New York's 1853 Exhibition was held on a site behind the Croton Distributing Reservoir, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues on 42nd Street, in what is today Bryant Park in the borough of Manhattan. (Submitted on July 3, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.)
2. The Lost 1853 Crystal Palace. "Daytonian in Manhattan" entry. (Submitted on April 12, 2020, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Additional keywords. exhibitions
Credits. This page was last revised on January 31, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 3, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 619 times since then and 40 times this year. Last updated on February 7, 2019, by Bruce Guthrie of Silver Spring, Maryland. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on July 3, 2012, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.