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Investigate · Philadelphia 1876

Construction of the Netherlands department in the main exhibition building of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876

Construction of the Netherlands department in the main exhibition building of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876
2 clues in this photo

1No work camp

A 'construction' photo of a finished hall

The photo is titled as the construction of the Netherlands department, yet the iron frame, the glazing, the ornamented clerestory with medallions and the plank floor are all complete. Only booths are being fitted, with crates and lumber on the floor, and there is no scaffolding on the structure itself.

The questionIf this is 'construction,' why is the building already finished and only the displays going in?

2Repeated motif

Medallions and arcades repeated down the nave

The clerestory carries a regular run of round medallions and arched openings, repeated bay after bay into the distance.

The questionWere these ornaments cast for 1876, or are they a standard pattern found in other halls of the era?

Photo: Centennial Photographic Co · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Philadelphia 1876Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

No work camp · London 1851A finished interior, statues still shroudedIs this a building being completed, or an existing hall being dressed for opening?No work camp · Paris 1889A bare field under the towerWhere were the material yard and workforce for a tower of this size?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?No work camp · Chicago 1893No cranes, no campWhere did the thousands of workers live and where were the materials staged for about 200 buildings?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?

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