NEW YORK CRYSTAL PALACE FOR THE EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS. [From the San Francisco Herald, Jan. 24.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 810, 28 May 1853, Page 3

NEW YORK CRYSTAL PALACE FOR THE EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS. [From the San Francisco Herald, Jan. 24.]

The prodigious success of the London Exhibition turned the minds of the industrial world to the propriety and expediency of repetitions of that effort in different parts of Europe. Thai, there has already been one in Austria ; the same has been done in Ireland, and preparations are making for one on a very extensive scale in Paris in the year 1854. Those citizens of the United States who were in London in the summer of 1851, were filled with the desire of getting up such an Exhibition in their own country. They went to work with commendable enterprise and diligence, and are now fast completing a structure that will be an ornament to the nation. — They have received every possible assistance from tbe public authorhies. The city of New York has granted them a lease of Reservoir Square, the State has granted a charter, and the Federal authorities have engaged that the building shall be made a Bonded Warehouse for tbe purpose of receiving foreign articles without paying duty so long as they remain in it. The strongest assurances of support have been received from the Representatives of foreign countries, and great interest in the subject has been excited among the manufacturers of Europe. A large number of articles of high value have been already secured, and there is no doubt there will be a very exteusive representation of foreign industry. Tbe building intended for the purposes of the Exhibition, is constructed entirely of iron aud glass, and will be, it is believed, the largest and most beautiful edifice in the country. It covers, on tbe ground floor, which is in the form of an octagon, two and a half acres ; and, with the galleries, the whole space is four acres. The mason work is entirely completed. The main part of

the iron work is contracted for, a Urge part of the callings are delivered on the ground, and the construction is going steadily on. The Directors of the Association announce that the Exhibition will be opened to the public on tbe 2ud of May, 1853. The architects and designers, whose plan was •adopted by the Board, are Messrs. Carstensen and Gildemeister. Mr. Gildemeister has been some time settled in New York, and is not only an architect but an artist. Mr. Carstensen is the designer of the Tivoli and Caseno of Copenhagen, tbe principal public grounds of that city, and has recently established his bom* under the broad shelter of the Republic. Tbe main features of tbe building are as follows ; It is, with the exception of "the floor, entirely constructed of iron and glass. The general idea of the edifice is a Greek cross, surmounted by a dome at the intersection. Each diameter of the cross will be 365 feet 5 inches long. There urill be three similar entrances : one on the Sixth Arenue, one on Fortieth, and one on Forty-second atreet. Each entrance will be 47 feet wide, and that on the Sixth Avenue will be approached by a flight of eight steps ; over each front is a large semi-circular fan-light 41 feet wide and 21 feet high answering to the arch of the nave. Each arm of tbe cross is on the ground plan 149 feet broad. This is divided into a central nave r.nd two aisles, one on each side, — the nave 41 feet wide, each aisle 55 feet wide. The central portion or nave is carried up to the height of 67 feet, *nd the semicircular arch by which it is spanned is 41 feet btoad. There are thus in effect two arched naves crossing each other at right angles, 41 feet broad, 67 feet high to the crown of the arch, and 365 feet long ; and on each side of these naves is an aisle 54 feet broad add 45 feet bigh. Tbe exterior of the ridg way of the nave is 71 feet. Each aisle is covered by a gallery of its own width, and 24 feet from the floor. The central dome is 100 feet in diameter, 68 feet inside from the floor to the spring of the arch, and 118 feet to the crown ! and on the outside with the lantern, 142 feet. Tbe exterior angles of the building are ingeuiously filled up with a triangular lean-to 24 feet high, which gives the gronnd plan an octagonal shape, each side or* face 149 feet wide. At each angle is an octagonal tower 8 feet in diameter, and ?5 feet high. Four large and eight winding stair* cases connect tbe principal floor with the gallery, which opens on the three balconies tbat are situated over the entrance halls, and afford ample space for flower decorations, statues, vases, &c. The four principal stair- esses consist of two flights of steps with two landing places to each ; the eight winding staircases are placed in the octagonal towers which lead also tojmall balconies on the -tops of the towers and to the roof of the building. The building contains on the ground floor 111,000 square feet of space, and in its galleries, which are 54 feet wide, 62,000 square feet more, making a total area of 173,000 feet for the purposes of exhibition. There are thus on the ground floor two acres and a half, or exactly 2 52-100.; in, the galleries one acre and 44-100 ; total, within an inconsiderable -friction, four acres. There are on the ground floor, 190 octagonal cast-iron columns, 21 feet above the floor, and 8 inches diameter, cast hollow, of different thicknesses, from half an inch to ene inch. These columns receive the cast iron girders. These art 26 1-3 feet long and three feet bigh, and serve to sustain tbe galleries and the wrought-iron construction of the roof, as well as to brace the whole strncture in every direction. The girders, as well as the second story columns, are fastened to tbe columns, in tbe first story, by connecting pieces of the same octagonal shape as the columus, 3 feet 4 inches high, having proper flanges and lugs to fasten all pieces together by bolts. The number of lower floor girders is 252, besides twelve wrooght-iron girders of the same height, and 41 feet span over a part of the nave. The second story contains 148 columns, of tbe lame shape as those below, and 17 feet 7 inches bigh. These receive another tier of girders, -numbering 160, for the support of the roofs of the aisles, each nave being covered by 16 castiron semi-circular arches, each composed of 4 pieces. The dome is supported by 24 columns, which go up above the second story to the height of 62 feet above the*floor, and support a combination of wrougbt-iron arches, and girders, on which rests a cast-iron bed-plate, so constructed as to -receive tbe 82 ribs of the dome. The* light is •communicated to the dome through the lantern, as well as from tbe sides, on which 32 escutcheons on colored glass, representing the Arms of tbe •Union la its several States, or the emblems of the different nations, form a part of the decoration. The quautity of iron to be used for the building will amount to about 1,250 tons. The roof -will cover an a^rea of 144,000 square feet. The .glass for the building will amount to 39,600 square feet, in 9,027 panes, 16 by 34 or 38 'inches. On «ntsring-this building, the observer's eye will be greeted by the vista of an arched nave, 41 feet wide, 67 feet high, 365 feet long ; while on approaching the centre, be will find, himself under a dome 100 feet across, and 118 feet high. It is certain, therefore, tbat tbe edifice will be larger, and more effective in its interior view, than anything it) the country. The aspect of the building will be entirely different -from that of the London Crystal Palace. Its form affords the requisite scope for a pleasing variety of architectural embellishment, by which all monotony can be avoided, and allows a very economical use of the ground. Tbe rising dome, independent of its effect in tbe iuttrior arrangement of the edifice, will give height and majesty. The following are the objects which the architects have striven to combine in tbeir plan ; 1. The greatest possible area. 2. Perfect safety and elegance of construction . 3. A well calculated and pleasing admission of light. 4. A variety of coup d'ail in the inteiior. Such, says Mr. Theodore Sedgwick, t!i,t President of the Association, from whose circular we take the above description, is the building which will soon salute tbe eyes of tbe city of New York. Itt asserting that it will the largest and most beautiful construction in tbe country, nothing has been said more than it deserves. But this is its. lease merit. The objects to which the buitding is destined will form its real recommendation. There is offered here to tbe European and domestic producer an unequalled opportunity of displaying the works of bis skill, without any

charge from the lime that they enter the building till withdrawn. The Association hsve already made public the fact, that their object is e>.ki~ bition alone, and that they have no interest what* ever, direct or indirect, in the final disposition to be ratde of the articles displayed. They thus avoid coming in conflict with any branch of re* gular industry. There will be gathered the choicest products of the luxury of the Old World, and the roost cunning devices of the ingenuity of the New. The interests of Manufacture, Commerce, and the Arts, will all find encouragement and protection within these walls, and another guarantee will be given to the permanence of peace. There will be collected multitudes of all nations : bat the great and crowning feature of the enterprise is, Ibat it will offer amusement and recreation to the working cissies, such as they can find nowhere else ; that it will be a Palace for tub People. The Exhibition is already announced to open on the 2nd May, 1853. i The Association intend to call forth a complete representation of the entire resources of the country, as well of raw materials as of manufactured articles. They express themselves particularly anxious to obtain a complete collection of the various ores which the active industry of our people is daily bringing to light, of tbe metals produced from them, in their various stages of development, and also of all other minerals. This would include as well coal, granite, and other similar substances, as those chemical products more especially used in the '.arts. The ores should be accompanied by the rocks in which they are fonnd, aud, if possible, by plans and sections of the measures in which they lie. It would also be of great interest to exhibit, either «by models or descriptive drawings, the different processes employed in tbe reduction of the ores aud the manufacture of the metals. In this department California may, by proper exertions, make such a display as to astonish and delight the world. It is earnestly to be hoped our enterprising and public-spirited citizens will exert themselves to have a proper exhibition of our resources. Half-way measures will only lower us in the estimation of the tens of thousands of visitors who will be present. The ridicule cast upon the famous gold quartz stone contribnted by California to the Washington Monument is a lesson from which we may profit. Much is expected of us, and if we choose the fullest expectations may be realized. There is material in our State for a display, unsurpassing in splendour and brilliancy tbat of any other State in the Union. Much better not to be represented at all than disgraced by slop-shop relics and picayune specimens.