The building was designed by Paxton, who had risen from being a
gardener's boy in the Duke of Devonshire's service to the position
of the greatest designer of landscape-gardening in the kingdom.
He took his main ideas for the Crystal Palace from the great
conservatories at Kew and Chatsworth. It was like a huge greenhouse
in shape, nearly one thousand feet long and ninety feet high, with
fountains playing in the naves and a great elm-tree in full leaf under
the roof.
On May 1, 1851, the opening day, everything went well. The crowds
in the streets were immense, and there were some 34,000 visitors
present in the building during the opening ceremony.
Lord Macaulay was much impressed with the Exhibition, for he wrote
after the opening: "I was struck by the numbers of foreigners in the
streets. All, however, were respectable and decent people. I saw none
of the men of action with whom the Socialists were threatening
us. . . . I should think there must have been near three hundred
thousand people in Hyde Park at once. The sight among the green boughs
was delightful. The boats, and little frigates, darting across the
lake; the flags; the music; the guns;--everything was exhilarating,
and the temper of the multitude the best possible. . . .
"I made my way into the building; a most gorgeous sight; vast;
graceful; beyond the dreams of the Arabian romances. I cannot think
that the Caesars ever exhibited a more splendid spectacle.
Pages:
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88