The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-30 00:00:00

THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

A fortnight has elapsed since our last notice of the
Crystal Palace, and, though in that space of time the
progress which has been made does not strike the
eye so much as during the earlier stages of construc-
tion, it is not the less real. The first efforts of the
contractors were necessarily directed to the task of
covering and closing in the ground to be occupied ;
their next business was to complete the details and
give a finished effect to the whole. To a spectator the
former pert of the process was the most striking, from
the marvellous rapidity with which the vast fabric
grew. The portion of the work now in hand affects
the senses less strongly, because minor points are
swallowed up in the impressions of immensity, light-
ness, and regularity of proportion which the building
conveys. The novelty of the conception has already,
in a great measure, been realized, and in presence of
that the final details of execution are of comparatively
little interest. In a very few days the building
will be so far completed as to be ready for the
reception of goods. By the end of the week it will
have been entirely glazed in, and the flooring of the
ground area and galleries, as far as it has been
ordered, will have been laid. The great central avenue
will not be boarded over at present, in order to facili-
tate the transit of heavy articles intended for exhibi-
tion. The only part of the building where any con-
siderable amount of work in glazing and flooring now
remains to be done is the north-east corner. Here,
therefore, at present the hands are chiefly employed.
Other operations are being carried on simultaneously
The bases and tops of the columns are being capped,
so as to give them a more finished effect. The exter-
nal decorations have been commenced, especially at
the south end of the transept; and it appears now
decided that the colours to be used are blue and white,
the wood pannelling of the ground tier being stained
so as to bring these colours out more prominently.
The Commissioners' first decision, therefore, that the
exterior of the building should be painted in plain
stone colour, has been changed, and the new plan of
decoration proposed by Mr. Owen Jones adopted in-
stead. Whatever difference of opinion there may be
as to the taste displayed by that gentleman in his
contemplated mode of painting the interior, the praise
of a happy selection of colours for the outside of the
building will not be denied to him. The piece al-
ready executed at the south end of the transept
promises to answer exceedingly well ; and, if
any doubt remained on the subject, it would
be dissipated by the view of a small portion
of the north front, where a specimen of Mr. Jones's
plan is exhibited side by side with the suggestions of
others. How far the murky atmosphere of London,
rendered doubly injurious by the uncertainty of dtar
climate, may interfere to tarnish and spoil decorations
of so light and brilliant a character, and so much ex •
posed, is a point, which the Commissioners appear will-
ing to risk, nor do they seem afraid of developing to
the utmost extent, by the aid of painting, those im-
pressions of lightness, airiness, and transparency
which the style of construction already so strongly
conveys. As a very large proportion of the exterior
is to be covered with white calico, there appears some
reason to fear that the whole may at least wear too
much the aspect of a gigantic booth, the more espe-
cially as the roof is to be surmounted with a profusion
of flags. The usual attributes of a fair must be skil-
folly handled, or the Crystal Palace may degenerate
into a huge vulgarity ; pretentious in dimensions,e
glaring and flashy in appearance, and having little
about it significant of that sober, sedate, and steadfast
people who have made it their house of reception for
the industrial skill of the world. While we indicate
this danger, we are not afraid that it will be incurred.
The effect of the transept, with its glittering arch, and
of the eastern and western facades, with their terraced
outlines, will not be thrown away. These objects
must attract general admiration, and impart dignity
and elevation to the whole structure.
While the work of decoration has been commenced
externally, it also makes some progress within the
building. Hitherto there has been no means of fairly
estimating the merits of Mr. Owen Jones's proposed
plan of internal decoration. A specimen was exe-
cuted in a part of the building where a variety of
circumstances contributed to give it a very disagree-
able, we might say, a vulgar effect. The condemna-
tion of it was so general as to be almost unanimous,
and the Commissioners, at their first meeting held
within the building, pressed Mr. Jones hard to
modify his plan. We were even informed by one of
the secretaries that they had decided that a consider-
able modification should take place ; that the amount
of blue and white should be increased, the former
being intensified in shade, and that the yellow and
red should be reduced, a lighter red being used. The
changes thus contemplated we at the time approved,
and we still adhere to that opinion. But it appears
that we have been misled as to the decision of the
Commissioners, and that, in point of fact, Mr. Owen
Jones has been left to carry out his original plan,
with two very slight alterations. The first of these
is that the ridges of the roof are to be marked out by
blue lines instead of red ; the second, that the sash-
bars are to be painted white instead of yellow.
When a man of Mr. Jones's eminence as a deco-
rator is intrusted with a work of this kind, it is only
fair that he should be allowed, both by the public
who criticise and by the Commissioners who employ
him, considerable license in the execution of his de-
signs. It is also, on the other hand, but reasonable
that he should not perversely adhere to his own pre-
conceived ideas of a certain decorative style to be
adopted, when both the Commissioners and the public
have urged on him the propriety of some modifica-
tions. The effect of the small portion of painting
already executed is not so unfavourable as from the
experimental specimen might have been anticipated.
This is due partly to the position in which that speci-
men was executed, and partly to an improvement in
the tone of the colours used, the blue especially being
more positive. We still, however, cannot divest our-
selves of the idea that the style of decoration is not
what it ought to be. The roof of the transept, which
has now been painted, and a portion of the gallery space
above the grand entrance, will give visitors who wish
to form an opinion on the subject an opportunity of
judging for themselves. It is the aggregate of individual
tastes concurring with it which alone gives weight to
public criticism, and if Mr. Owen Jones still finds it
up-hill work to bring people round to his designs for
decorating the Crystal Palace, we would put it to him
whether an obstinate adherence to his own views on
the subject is likely to conciliate approbation. The
rules of decoration, however well-defined in ordinary
circumstances, cannot be applied with certainty to an
entirely new construction of edifice, nor can the pre-
cedents furnished by ancient or modern art be at all
confidently appealed to with reference to a building
which in size, in materials, in proportions, and in the
effect of external light upon it, is entirely with-
out a parallel in the world. The pictures of the in-
terior, as it will be when the decorations are finished,
are certainly very effective works, and if the coup
d' oil which they present could be realized we should
feel less concern about the matter. It would be morti-
fying, after having entirely succeeded in the erection
of a building suited to receive the choicest specimens of
the world's industry, if we did not do full justice to
it in the style of embellishment.
Turning to other points of the building, we have to
notice that an additional pillar has been placed close
behind each of the four corner pillars at the points of
intersection of the nave and transept. They answer
a double purpose, for they strengthen the building at
its centre, where the strain is of course greatest, and
they add considerably to the architectural effect. The
columns originally placed there, though of the same
apparent size externally as the rest, are in reality much
stronger, so that the addition was not considered re-
quisite by the contractors, though it certainly pleases
the eye. The pipes for the supply of the fountain in
the centre of the transept are being laid, and the in-
tention is that water should be introduced in mains all
round the building and across it at two points. This
leads to the subject of insurance, with reference to
which some curious facts have come to our knowledge.
The principal insurance companies of the metro-
polis have come to the conclusion that the Crystal
Palace is a very combustible edifice, upon the insur-
ance of which a high premium must be paid. The
calico covering in which it is to be wrapped—the
proximityof the fixed steam-engine for the machinery
—the proposed plan of lighting the interior by lamps
fixed in the external wall,—all these matters have im-
pressed the companies with such a sense of danger
that they refuse to insure at a lower rate than 21s.
per cent. for nine months, with a premium at the rate
of about 2,0001. per annum for the building,
and with
proportionate rates on the enormous amount of E
valu-
able.b property collected within it, the Great
tion of 1851 will prove a profitable concern forso;000/.
these
companies. France alone wishes to insure
worth of goods for the occasion. Thereox
reason for apprehending a fire intlie Crystalen;and, even if
can be little
Palace, if
the moat ordinary precautions are :
it did unfortunately occur, the open character of the
building presents the greatest facihtres for its imme-
diate extinction. When the building was first an-
nounced the question of water was supposed to present