Investigate · London 1851

Great Exhibition, Transept looking west, HF Talbot, 1851

2 clues in this photo

1Impossible timeline

1,850 feet of iron and glass in about nine months

The transept looking west shows a seemingly endless grid of identical iron columns and girders, with statues still under cloths. The record gives roughly nine months for a hall about 1,850 ft long.

The questionHow 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?

2No work camp

A finished interior, statues still shrouded

The statues are wrapped and the floor is clear, but no ladders, lifting gear or piles of glazing show anywhere in the frame. The building itself looks finished while only the exhibits wait.

The questionIs this a building being completed, or an existing hall being dressed for opening?

Photo: William Henry Fox Talbot · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

London 1851 Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

#3No work camp · Philadelphia 1876A 'construction' photo of a finished hallIf this is 'construction,' why is the building already finished and only the displays going in?

#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 · 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?

No work camp · Paris 1889A bare field under the towerWhere were the material yard and workforce for a tower of this size?

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

No work camp · Chicago 1893No cranes, no campWhere did the thousands of workers live and where were the materials staged for about 200 buildings?

All clues others missed →