Investigate · Paris 1878

Façade principale du Palais du Champ-de-Mars, Exposition Universelle 1878

1 clue in this photo

1Repeated motif · whole photo

The long-hall formula again

The engraved elevation of the Palais du Champ-de-Mars shows a long iron-and-glass front between domed end pavilions with a central entrance. It is the same long-hall formula seen in London in 1851 and Philadelphia in 1876.

The questionWhy does the same long-hall plan recur from city to city, and who held the pattern?

Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Paris 1878 Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

Repeated motif · Philadelphia 1876Medallions and arcades repeated down the naveWere these ornaments cast for 1876, or are they a standard pattern found in other halls of the era?

Repeated motif · Paris 1889The Trocadéro already standing through the archHow many of these 'temporary' fair palaces were left standing for the next fair, and what was there before 1878?

Repeated motif · Chicago 1893Erechtheion-style caryatid porchesWhy does the same classical vocabulary turn up fair after fair, city after city?

Repeated motif · Nashville 1897Greece and Egypt on one groundWhy do Greek and Egyptian forms keep turning up together at these fairs?

Repeated motif · Buffalo 1901A skyline of ornate towersWere towers like these power infrastructure first and decoration second?

Repeated motif · Paris 1878The Trocadéro core reusedWhat is inside the Palais de Chaillot today?

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