New York Crystal Palace was an exhibition building constructed for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City in 1853, which was under the presidency of the mayor

Jacob Aaron Westervelt Jacob Aaron Westervelt (January 20, 1800 – February 21, 1879) was a renowned and prolific shipbuilder who constructed 247 vessels''Ships and Shipping of Old New York (1915)'' by the Bank of the Manhattan Company, page 48. of all descriptio ...

. The building stood in Reservoir Square.

Use in the exhibition

New York City's 1853 Exhibition was held on a site behind the

Croton Distributing Reservoir The Croton Distributing Reservoir, also known as the Murray Hill Reservoir, was an above-ground reservoir at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Covering and holding , it supplied the city with drinking water ...

, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues on 42nd Street, in what is today

Bryant Park Bryant Park is a public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Privately managed, it is located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas ( Sixth Avenue) and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. Th ...

in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The New York Crystal Palace was designed by Georg Carstensen and German architect Charles Gildemeister, and was directly inspired by

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibit ...

built in London's Hyde Park to house

The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

of 1851. The New York Crystal Palace had the shape of a Greek cross, and was crowned by a dome in diameter. Like the Crystal Palace of London, it was constructed from iron and glass. Construction was handled by engineer

Christian Edward Detmold Christian Edward Detmold (2 February 1810 Hanover – 2 July 1887 New York City) was a civil engineer. Biography He was educated at the military academy in Hanover, and came to New York in 1826, with the intention of entering the Brazilian ar ...

Horatio Allen Horatio Allen (May 10, 1802 – December 31, 1889) was an American civil engineer and inventor, and President of Erie Railroad in the year 1843–1844. Biography Born in Schenectady, New York, he graduated from Columbia University in 1823, ...

was the consulting engineer, and Edmund Hurry the consulting architect.New-York Crystal Palace.; A Famous Enterprise Recalled by the Death of its Chief Promoter
from

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, July 5, 1887. Elisha OTIS 1854

President

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

spoke at the dedication on July 14, 1853.

Theodore Sedgwick Theodore Sedgwick (May 9, 1746January 24, 1813) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served in elected state government and as a delegate to the Continental Congress, a U.S. representative, and a senator from Massachusetts. H ...

was the first president of the Crystal Palace Association. After a year, he was succeeded by Phineas T. Barnum who put together a reinauguration in May 1854 when

Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial. His r ...

and

Elihu Burritt Elihu Burritt (December 8, 1810March 6, 1879) was an American diplomat, philanthropist and social activist.Arthur Weinberg and Lila Shaffer Weinberg. ''Instead of Violence: Writings by the Great Advocates of Peace and Nonviolence Throughout Histo ...

were the featured orators. This revived interest in the Palace, but by the end of 1856 it was a dead property. Elisha Otis demonstrated the safety elevator, which prevented the fall of the cab if the cable broke, at the Crystal Palace in 1854 in a dramatic presentation.The Elevator Museum, timeline
''Magical Hystory Tour: The Origins of the Commonplace & Curious in America'' (September 1, 2010).

Observatory

The adjoining

Latting Observatory The Latting Observatory was a wooden tower in New York City built as part of the 1853 Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, adjoining the New York Crystal Palace. It was located on the North side of 42nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Si ...

, a wooden tower high, allowed visitors to see into

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

to the east,

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

to the south, and New Jersey to the west. The tower, taller than the spire of Trinity Church at , was the tallest structure in New York City from the time it was constructed in 1853 until it was shortened in 1855; it burned down in 1856.Pollak, Michael
"F.Y.I.: Over the Bounding Pond"
''

'', August 28, 2005. Accessed May 18, 2009.Staff
"New-York City; A Conflagration--Destruction of the "Latting Observatory"--$130,000 worth of Property destroyed-Narrow escape of the Crystal Palace. The Knife Again--Probable Murder of a Boy by a Boy. Police Intelligence. Burned to Death."
''

'', September 1, 1856. Accessed May 18, 2009. The Crystal Palace itself barely escaped destruction.

Destruction

The New York Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire on October 5, 1858, during the

American Institute Fair The American Institute Fair was held annually from 1829 until at least 1897 in New York City by the American Institute. The American Institute was founded in 1829 "for the encouragement of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and the arts." The ...

held there. The fire began in a lumber room on the side adjacent to 42nd Street. Within fifteen minutes its dome fell and in twenty-five minutes the entire structure had burned to the ground. There were no deaths but the loss of property amounted to more than $350,000. This included the building, valued at $125,000, and exhibits and valuable statuary remaining from the World's Fair.

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, ''Other Burned Theatres'', December 7, 1876, Page 10.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Burrows, Edwin G. ''The Finest Building in America: The New York Crystal Palace 1853-1858'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018) *Carstensen & Gildemeister, ''New York Crystal Palace: illustrated description of the building by Geo. Carstensen & Chs. Gildemeister, architects of the building ; with an oil-color exterior view, and six large plates containing plans, elevations, sections, and details, from the working drawings of the architects'' (New York: Riker, Thorne & co., 1854) *CUNY Graduate Center, "Crystal Palace/42 Street/1853-54" ; Catalogue by Linda Hyman of an exhibition mounted at the Graduate Center Mall from October 7 to 26, 1974. 6pp, 22 b/w illustrations, bibliographic note. (New York: CUNY Graduate Center, 1974)

External links

New York Crystal Palace:1853
Digital Publication, Bard Graduate Center. March 24, 2017. *
The Great Crystal Palace Fire of 1858
from th
Museum of the City of New York Collections blogThe New York Crystal Palace Records at the New York Historical Society
{{Authority control Building fires in New York City Event venues in Manhattan Burned buildings and structures in the United States Commercial buildings completed in 1853 Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan World's fair architecture in New York City World's fairs in New York City 19th century in New York City 1858 fires in the United States Bryant Park buildings Commercial building fires Building collapses in the United States Building collapses caused by fire