Southern shield., 1853-07-30
The Crystal Palace.


 tory we have seen. The Tribune says:
 "This edfice starts in it's delicate beauty from the earth like the imag ming of a happy vision. Viewed at a distance, its furnished dome re- sembles a half-disclosed balloon, as large as cathedral, but light, bril- liant, and seemingly ready to burst its bands and soar aloft. In every sense the Crystal Palace is admira ble. To us on this side of the water it is original. Nothing like it's shape, materials, or effect has been present. ed to us. If it were to contain mo- thing, it would alone be an absorb ing attraction, and be beyond all else in New York, an architectural curi- osity.
 The building is two stories high. The first is in the form of an octagon, the second of a Greek cross. The centre of this is dome l40 feet high. The four corners of the octagon are furnished each with two towers sev- enty feet high. These towers SUD- port fagstaffs, adding 10 the light ness of their appearance. The con- struction of the building is similar to that of the original in London, as far as the connection of iron columns, l girders, and so forth, go; but the prin- cipal parts of the rest, the dome in- cIuded, as fashioned by the archi- tects, Messrs. Christensen and Glider meister, who devised the plan of the whole structure as we'll as the details. The main building covers l73,O00 square feet, galleries included; and the additional building 33,000, being 206,000 feet in all. The additional building is composed of a first and a second story gallery 21 feet broad and 45O feet long, lit from above, the sides being quite closed up, so as to form suitable place to exhibit pie lures and statues. This additional building is connected with the main building by two one-story wings, which contain the refreshment rooms and the mineralogical department 7 under the charge of Professor SiIli- man, Jr.
 There are twelve stairways, the , baIIustrades of which are light iron tracery in accordance with the gen. eral spirit of he designs. The stair ways are at each point of the com pass, on the sides and under the dome. The great circular windows, facing at four points, add much to the charm of the effect.
 , Walls, properly speaking, the building, has not, being enclosed with I glass sustained by iron pillars. This vast mass of crystal occupies 45,OOO square feet.
 The cast-iron weighs l,200 tons, the wrought, 300. Each pane of } glass is 16 by 3S inches. The pre- vaiing style of the architecture is ! Moorish and Byzantine in its decora- tions. The ceilings are painted in octagons, in blue, white, and cream color. A portion of the ceiling will not be finished and will reveal the rafter and girders. which is a draw back on the general effect.
 The decorative artist is Mir. Green ough. The offices of the directors and artists are in imitation of satin- wood, their appearance being very neat.
 The entrances of the Palace are three, all alike, one on the Sixth av- enue, one on Fortieth and one on Forty-second street. Each entrance is forty seven feet wide, the central nave is forty-one feet wide, and the aisles tifty-four feet. Within. at the entrance, the visitor sees an arched nave forty-one feet wide. sixty seven feet high and three hundred feet long The dome is one hundred feet across. , The building, though not nearly so large as that of London, is superior in architectural beauty. ltis a mag , nifcent ornament to the city, and should be purchased by the Council as a permanent property. Various orations could be fitIy celebrated in it. The work assures national re- nown to the architects. ..Messrs. Car stensen and Gidermeister.
 The contributors will amount to about six thousand. Six thousand specimens of the superative genius and industry of all nations. What world of detail, of division of labor, of thought. anxiety, toll, enthusiasm. invention, is here concentrated! How many eyes have strained, fingers piled. muscles swelled, nerves quiver- ed, to produce this multitudinous and multiiorm array of outworkingsl What a complexity of interests is here to be exposed What a congo ries of national rivalries, honorably undertaken in witness of the new and benefcient ideas of the time, in opposition to the State hostlities of l. Il Al