World’s FairsFound, not built?
London 1851Investigate

Investigate · London 1851

Great Exhibition, Transept looking south, HF Talbot, 1851

Great Exhibition, Transept looking south, HF Talbot, 1851
2 clues in this photo

1Other details

A full-grown elm inside the glass

Talbot's 1851 photo of the transept looking south shows a mature elm rising to the vault behind the fountain, its crown pressed up against the glass. The record says Hyde Park's elms were enclosed in the hall rather than felled.

The questionWas the transept built around trees that were already standing, and what else on the site was older than the hall?

2Masonry, not plaster

Solid wall at the lower level

Under the glazing at the south end of the transept, the lower level is a solid, brick- or stone-faced wall, not glass and iron. It reads as a heavy base under a light frame.

The questionWhat is that masonry base, when was it laid, and did it carry an earlier structure?

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

London 1851Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

Masonry, not plaster · Philadelphia 1876Memorial Hall: stone at the openingMemorial Hall was always meant to stay, but what does that say about the 'temporary' halls standing beside it?Masonry, not plaster · Paris 1889Tile and stone on the Beaux-Arts palaceWhich of these surfaces are plaster and which are fired tile or stone, and has anyone ever tested a fragment?Masonry, not plaster · Chicago 1893Caryatids on the Palace of Fine ArtsIf this palace had a brick core, how many of the others did too?Masonry, not plaster · Atlanta 1895Rough-faced stone at the New York BuildingWhy put a heavy stone base under a building said to be temporary?Masonry, not plaster · Atlanta 1895The Woman's Building on a stone-look baseWhat was this base made of, and what happened to it after the fair?Masonry, not plaster · Omaha 1898Heavy sculpture on the Administration BuildingWhat was that ornament made of, and where did it go?

All clues others missed →