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Author | : Edwin G. Burrows |
Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | : 112 |
Release | : 2018-01-10 |
Genre | : History |
ISBN | : 0190681233 |
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When first opened to the public in 1853, New York's Crystal Palace created a sensation. Those who had seen London's Crystal Palace, the structure it was openly intended to emulate, argued that America's copy far surpassed it. Built in what is today Bryant Park, a four-acre site between 40th and 42nd Streets, the colossus of glass and steel indeed seemed poised to displace the British original in worldwide fame. Walt Whitman pronounced it "unsurpassed anywhere for beauty." Young Samuel Clemens--not yet Mark Twain--called it a "perfect fairy palace." Many perceived it as putting America, still in the thrall of European culture, on the map. "To us on this side of the water," wrote newspaperman Horace Greely, who had also visited London's Crystal Palace, "it was original." Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edwin G. Burrows offers the tale of what was proclaimed the country's "finest building." Centerpiece of the 1853 World's Fair, the New York Crystal Palace, like its London counterpart, was intended to display the country's latest technological achievements--as well as a few dubious cultural artifacts. But its primary function was simply to be seen and admired by the crowds that thronged to it; its very existence caused patriotic breasts to swell. And then suddenly it was gone. On October 5, 1858, merely five years after its construction, the Crystal Palace caught fire. Despite frantic attempts to save it, the magnificent dome was engulfed and within thirty minutes the entire structure reduced to a heap of smoldering debris, through which for days afterward bereft New Yorkers picked for mementos. With sumptuous images and lively storytelling The Finest Building in America brings back to life an extraordinary monument, one that briefly but wholeheartedly captured the imagination of a country, giving form to its dreams and ambitions, and then vanishing from view.
Author | : Edwin G. Burrows |
Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
Total Pages | : 265 |
Release | : 2018 |
Genre | : Architecture |
ISBN | : 0190681217 |
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"Built in 1853 in New York's Bryant Park and immediately pronounced the most beautiful structure in America, the Crystal Palace was intended not simply to emulate but rival the famous Victorian landmark in London's Hyde Park. As with its English counterpart, however, its beauty was ephemeral. It caught fire, and on October 5, 1858, "great waves of lurid light" overtook spectators and those rushing to save it. Within thirty minutes, the beloved dome was nothing but a heap of smoldering debris. In his latest book, Edwin G. Burrows, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for History and co-author of GOTHAM: A History of New York to 1898, offers a memorable and elegiac look at the Crystal Palace. While it didn't match in dimension Robert Paxton's London original--the scale of which was truly colossal--the New York version became a beloved landmark almost from the instant of its creation. Centerpiece of the 1853 World's Fair, it was home to numerous exhibitions and became a showplace for displaying the growing industrial might of the nation. Walt Whitman rhapsodized about it as "Earth's modern wonder, History's Seven outstripping." Its sudden loss provoked intense mourning-matched only perhaps by the razing of the old Penn Station a century later-and then gradually it slipped from memory. The Finest Building in America will evoke the Crystal Palace's life and times, replete with beautiful period images. The first book-length account of the building's short but glorious life, Burrows book aims to restore it in the minds and hearts of New Yorkers and New York aficionados and fans everywhere"--
Author | : William Seale |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 150 |
Release | : 2017-05-15 |
Genre | : |
ISBN | : 9781931917773 |
Download Built for the Ages Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Author | : Phillip James Dodd |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 412 |
Release | : 2021-09-13 |
Genre | : Architecture |
ISBN | : 9781864706819 |
Download An American Renaissance Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
This book, which has been painstakingly researched and beautifully photographed over many years, takes a close look at twenty of the finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City. While showing public exteriors, its focus is on the lavish interiors that are associated with the opulence of the Gilded Age--often providing a glimpse inside buildings not otherwise viewable to the public. The pages recount not only the fascinating stories of some of New York's most famous and significant Beaux-Arts buildings, it also recalls the lives of those who commissioned, designed, and built them.
Author | : Steven Conn |
Publisher | : University of Pennsylvania Press |
Total Pages | : 425 |
Release | : 2003-06-23 |
Genre | : Architecture |
ISBN | : 0812218523 |
Download Building the Nation Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
"Some anthologies seem slapdash or opportunistic; others are labors of love, informed by a mastery of a particular field and a passion for sharing the heterogeneous richness of their documents. "Building the Nation" is happily one of the latter. . . . Vastly useful."--"Preservation"
Author | : Kenneth Treister |
Publisher | : Skira |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2013 |
Genre | : Bell towers |
ISBN | : 9780847841479 |
Download Bok Tower Gardens Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
The first book on Bok Tower Gardens, the exceptional National Historic Landmark in central Florida designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Milton B. Medary. Built in 1929 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993, Bok Tower Gardens is not only an architectural and landscape masterpiece, it is also the embodiment of a fascinating moment in American history. Publisher, philanthropist, and naturalist Edward Bok commissioned two esteemed designers, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and architect Milton B. Medary, to create a sanctuary that would preserve the natural beauty of the state. Located on 600 acres, the historic garden is centered on the beautiful Pinewood Estate and the 205-foot-high marble and coquina Singing Tower, which houses one of the world’s finest carillons. One of the great achievements of America’s golden age of architecture, Bok Tower Gardens is a complete work of art that is also an extraordinary public monument.
Author | : Eberhard L. Faber |
Publisher | : Princeton University Press |
Total Pages | : 455 |
Release | : 2018-07-10 |
Genre | : History |
ISBN | : 0691180709 |
Download Building the Land of Dreams Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
The history of New Orleans at the turn of the nineteenth century In 1795, New Orleans was a sleepy outpost at the edge of Spain's American empire. By the 1820s, it was teeming with life, its levees packed with cotton and sugar. New Orleans had become the unquestioned urban capital of the antebellum South. Looking at this remarkable period filled with ideological struggle, class politics, and powerful personalities, Building the Land of Dreams is the narrative biography of a fascinating city at the most crucial turning point in its history. Eberhard Faber tells the vivid story of how American rule forced New Orleans through a vast transition: from the ordered colonial world of hierarchy and subordination to the fluid, unpredictable chaos of democratic capitalism. The change in authority, from imperial Spain to Jeffersonian America, transformed everything. As the city’s diverse people struggled over the terms of the transition, they built the foundations of a dynamic, contentious hybrid metropolis. Faber describes the vital individuals who played a role in New Orleans history: from the wealthy creole planters who dreaded the influx of revolutionary ideas, to the American arrivistes who combined idealistic visions of a new republican society with selfish dreams of quick plantation fortunes, to Thomas Jefferson himself, whose powerful democratic vision for Louisiana eventually conflicted with his equally strong sense of realpolitik and desire to strengthen the American union. Revealing how New Orleans was formed by America’s greatest impulses and ambitions, Building the Land of Dreams is an inspired exploration of one of the world’s most iconic cities.
Author | : Gwendolyn Wright |
Publisher | : Reaktion Books |
Total Pages | : 324 |
Release | : 2008-02-15 |
Genre | : Architecture |
ISBN | : 9781861893444 |
Download USA Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Gwendolyn Wright’s USA is an engaging account the evolution of American architecture, from the late nineteenth century to the twenty-first.
Author | : Kathy Borrus |
Publisher | : Black Dog & Leventhal Pub |
Total Pages | : 639 |
Release | : 2010-09 |
Genre | : Architecture |
ISBN | : 1579128580 |
Download Five Hundred Buildings of Paris Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
ARCHITECTURE. Five hundred glorious photographs showcase the finest, most majestic and most interesting examples of architecture in the world's most romantic city, Paris. The book represents a photographic neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood tour of the city, capturing stately and historic buildings, monuments and engineering structures. Each building is showcased on it's own page in a rich and beautiful fine resolution monochrome photograph. The accompanying text identifies location and date of completion/renovation, the building's distinctive features and historical context.
Author | : Centre canadien d'architecture |
Publisher | : Centre canadien d'architecture/Canadian Centre for Architecture |
Total Pages | : 174 |
Release | : 1989 |
Genre | : Architecture |
ISBN | : |
Download Centre Canadien D'architecture/Canadian Centre for Architecture Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle