1853

Manhattan: 6th Avenue - 42nd Street

The Crystal Palace, Sixth Avenue, east side, from 42nd to 40th Streets. The idea of an industrial exposition housed in a building of glass and iron originated in London 1851, in Hyde Park. The New York building, however, was smaller than its London predecessor, and entirely different in appearance. It was originally planned to build the Crystal Palace in Madison Square Park, but the protests of residents in that fashionable neighborhood compelled the abandonment of the scheme. The land in back of the Croton Reservoir, now Bryant Park, but then known as Reservoir Square, was leased from the City for a nominal rental of one dollar a year. Construction work began in 1852, and the building, housing the first World's Fair to be held in the United States, was formally opened on July 14, 1853, by President Franklin Pierce. The building, however, was not a financial success, as its London predecessor had been. The city took possession in May of 1858, and on October 5 of that year, while the City Fathers were debating the question of the removal of the building, and while the annual exposition of the American Institute was in progress, fire broke out, and the building was completely destroyed. The land was then converted by the city into the present Bryant Park. This is a photograph made for the sake of preservation from the original, a rare and badly faded photograph, whose plate has long ago been lost. The original is on deposit in the Library. About 1853. J. Loeffler, from P. L. Sperr Collection.

Photo from the New York Public Library - Milstein Collection