CRYSTAL PALACE AT SYDENHAM. 



p.nlacc is croctod. Tliis liill is inuloulitcilly ft sj^londid site for such a Ixiildiiifj — coii 

 mandinnf on the one side a |ti'ospoct of tlie counties of Kent and Surrey, and on the 

 otlier, of tho great metropolis, wliich it overlooks. The approach by railway is up a 

 stoop incline, which carries the visitor to the very corridor of the ])alace. 



The huilding consists of a grand central nave, as it is called, which fonns the rnidd'n' 

 and largest as well as highest portion of the building; two side aisles, which constitut. 

 that part of the building riglit and left of the nave; tho transepts, or projecting por- 

 tions of the building; two main galleries and two wings; beside the colonnade, 7'2(i 

 feet in length, which leads from the railroad tomiiiuis to the south wing of the ])alace. 

 The ort'oct and general beauty of the building is very much increased by several 

 changes that have been introduced since its erection at Sydenham. Those who saw it 

 at Ilyde Park must have been struck with the monotonous effect which it had upon 

 the observer, by the great length and sameness of eveiy part of the structure, and also 

 by the continuous rows of columns and girders which succeeded each other so rapid I \ 

 that tlie eye felt fiitigued and the perceptions deadened very speedily by the contem- 

 plation of them, so as to render it impossible to form a true conception of the extent 

 and capacity of the building. As the palace is now erected, we find pairs of columns 

 and girdere advanced into the nave eight or ten feet beyond the continuous line that 

 supports the roof, at distances of seventy-two feet, and thereby veiy much improN-ing 

 the interior effect, and enabling the observer much more easily to measure and to 

 appreciate the extent of the building. I would here remark, that in the French crystal 

 palace, now being erected at Paris, this fault is even more striking than in that at 

 London, although the Paris building has a very difterent effect upon the mind — 

 probably from its more permanent and substantial appearance, being built of the whiti 

 sandstone of the Paris basin, which, -when first hewn and polished, has the appearance, 

 at a short distance, of white marble ; but the interior of the building has a very dead- 

 ening and monotonous effect. But as the interior of the French palace is yet unfin- 

 ished, and also unfurnished, it is hardly fair to pronounce upon the effect of the whole. 

 It is a splendid structure, and by many will be considered superior to anything that has 

 yet been produced. 



The general appearance exteriorly, of the Sydenham palace, is not very unlike that 

 erected at New York, except in the greater extent of the former. For beauty of design, 

 we think the New York palace far before it, as also in the proportion of its parts and 

 in the architectural as well as the mechanical arrangement of its details. The great 

 defect of all glass structures, whether large or small, is a want of harmony, both with 

 the things within and the things without. There is unity, but there is no harmony; and 

 what is unity without harmony ? A building may be architecturally and mechanically 

 perfect in all its parts, yet be in harmony with nothing about it ; and whether these 

 structures be termed the " Early English" or the " Modern English" style, we are very 

 much of the opinion that the French palace, which is very different from eitlier the 

 London or New York ones, will, with its opaque walls and massive entablatures, be 

 much nearer the mark of architectural harmony than either of its predecessors. 



The Sydenham building, like its New York namesake, is entirely of iron above the 

 ground floor, with the exception, we believe, of a very small portion of the north front, 

 is paneled with Avood. The whole of the main building is 1,608 feet in lengtl 

 the wings or L at each end are each of them 574 feet, making a continuous 



