Investigate · Barcelona 1888

Hotel Internacional 1888-des de Monument a Colom

1 clue in this photo

1Impossible timeline

A 2,000-guest hotel in about 53 days

The record says the Grand Hotel Internacional went up in about 53 days. The view shows a large hotel beside a vast bare lot with ground scars, and dockside cranes on the wharf.

The questionHow was a hotel that size built in 53 days?

Photo: photgraph: UnknownUnknown . architect: Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923) (Transfered by amadalvarez/Original uploaded by Aerocat) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Barcelona 1888 Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

#7Impossible timeline · Chicago 1893The iron arches, with three people in sightWhy is a 'construction' photo dated during the fair, and how was a span like this put up in the time recorded?

Impossible timeline · London 18511,850 feet of iron and glass in about nine monthsHow many men, carts and horses would it take to cast, haul and raise thousands of matching iron parts that quickly, and where are the photos of that work?

Impossible timeline · Philadelphia 1876The 1,880-foot Main BuildingWith horses and horsecars as the heavy transport, how was this length of iron and glass raised in two years?

Impossible timeline · Paris 1889A moving gallery over a vast iron spanWhy build a hall this strong only to take it down two decades later?

Impossible timeline · Atlanta 1895A city of palaces in a recovering townWhere are the quarry and mill records for the fair's buildings?

Impossible timeline · Nashville 1897A whole classical town in a bird's-eye viewHow was a site this size built, and a full-size Parthenon cast, within about a year?

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