The Lost Latting Observatory - 42nd Street and Bryant Park

A sliver of the Crystal Palace can be seen at far right, across 42nd Street.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

London's 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park was a sensation.  In response New York City launched its own international exposition two years later, housed in an engineering marvel--the Crystal Palace.   The exhibition took up the western half of what would become Bryant Park, behind the massive Croton Reservoir which faced Fifth Avenue.

There would be another amazing feat of engineering at the fair, the Latting Observatory across 42nd Street from the Crystal Palace.  Waring Latting envisioned a soaring tower--the highest structure in the city--from which fair visitors would get magnificent views of Staten Island, New Jersey and Long Island.  Designed by architect William Naugle, it would rise 315 feet, with landings at three levels.  The 75-foot square base tapered to about 8 feet at the pinnacle.  A contemporary pamphlet claimed that 2,000 people could "be accommodated at one time on its various landings."

As the tower rose in the spring 1853 a committee (or "jury") of citizens was sent to decide on its safety.  The men reported to the Board of Aldermen on April 24.  "A number of the Jury being practical builders, the matter was submitted more particularly to their judgment, and the opinion of all of them was that the structure in question is being erected upon correct principles, and will be perfectly safe for the purposes for which it was designed," reported The New York Times.

The reason the towering wooden structure was sturdy enough for the jury's approval was Naugle's ample use of iron bracing.  The diamond-pattern of the girders created strength and stability.  In June 1853 The Plough, The Loom, and the Anvil remarked on the engineering breakthrough and published a detailed explanation of the intricate design logistics.  The article added:

This structure deserves careful consideration in various respects.  It is a capital exhibition of architectural skill, and as such commends itself to the study of all practical artisans in that department.  Again, it is worthy of attention as the highest structure, we believe, on the continent; and thirdly as an observatory which commands an entire view of New-York and its environs.

The structure cost $150,000 to construct--nearly $5 million today.   Visitors climbed a winding staircase; however The Plough, The Loom, and The Anvil assured it was "so constructed as to tire, by the ascent, much less than one would anticipate.  The frequent landings furnish convenient opportunities for rest, and present sufficient inducements to detain the visitor, even though he may not need to rest."

Among those who agreed was the reporter from The New York Times who climbed the tower on opening day, June 30.  "The ascent is a little fatiguing, but it improves digestion."  

If fatigue was at all an issue for the reporter, it was quickly forgotten when he reached the summit.  "We must confess, that on ascending this tower yesterday, we were not prepared for the wonderful panorama which was presented to our view.  We were told that our eyes could sweep from forty to sixty miles through space, and we scarcely doubt the assertion."

The view from the top.  In what is now Bryant Park, the Crystal Palace is seen at right, the Croton Reservoir at left.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

The writer mentioned the towns he could see from the top--Morrisania, Flushing, and Newark--as well as the Verrazano Narrows and Sandy Hook.  "Are these human beings that are walking beneath us?  The are.  They are very small, are they not?  But when Jersey City, and Hoboken, and Weehawken are almost footstools for your tower, of what account are human beings?"

The journalist rather dramatically concluded "And let only the sun crown with its rays the landscape and seascape that you behold and you may no longer desire to ascend the Alps or Andes."

Two days after the Latting Observatory opened both it and the Crystal Palace were threatened by violent weather.  The following day The New York Times reported that "a violent storm in the afternoon, accompanied by sharp lightning, a fierce hurricane through a section of the City, and the heaviest hailstorm known in this vicinity for many years, prostrated several buildings in the neighborhood of the Crystal Palace, and crushed a large number of persons beneath the ruins."

A team of reporters from the newspaper rushed to the fair site to see if the glass exhibition hall was shattered by the hailstones and if the Latting Observatory still stood.   A giant merry-go-round had been demolished, a tall brick wall next to the Observatory was blown down, and an entire block of wooden buildings on 44th Street being constructed "for saloons, refreshment rooms, &c." were destroyed.  But both the Latting Observatory and the Crystal Palace emerged nearly unscathed.

"The Latting Observatory withstood the blast nobly," reported The Times.  There had been a large number of workmen around 200 feet up when the hurricane hit.  "They were quite surprised to reach the ground in safety," said the article.  "In the saloon under the tower the plaster upon the ceiling is slightly cracked, and in one or two places has fallen off; but, with this exception the tall structure shows no sign of injury, and still stands, 'like Atlas, unremoved.'"

The journalist declared "So severe a test so well sustained, will tend greatly to increase public confidence in the solidity of this unequalled tower."

A few weeks after the tower's opening, its directors announced additional attractions.  A powerful "Drummond Light" was to be affixed to the top, which would be visible from sea and for miles around.  On the topmost landing a "monster telescope" was being installed which would afford visitors close-up views of sites 60 miles away.  Numerous other telescopes were positioned on the other landings along with exhibitions liked "dissolving views, cosmoramas, scientific and optical instruments, works of art, and many other objects of interest, useful and attractive," as reported by The Times on July 27.  The directors intended "not only to make this Observatory the highest structure upon this Continent, but to make it an object of special interest to all."

In September 1853 a brilliant comet, visible to the naked eye, could be seen in the night skies.  One astronomer in particular, Professor Jewett, foresaw doom.  He warned residents of the New York area that the comet would come crashing to earth, causing annihilation.

from the collection of the New York Public Library.

To ensure that citizens were forewarned, The New York Times put reporters atop the Latting Observatory and the spire of Trinity Church to watch for the incoming missile.  On September 12 the newspaper cautioned "Recollect it's got all day to come in, and at the rate of 30,000 miles a minute it can get over a good deal of ground in twenty-four hours."  The reporter suggested that his readers take the opportunity to end their lives on a charitable note.

"If, after reading the prophecy of Professor Jewett, and while laboring under a disagreeable uncertainty as to your personal safety, you committed a good deed--gave a poor woman a loaf of bread or an orphan some of your old clothes--don't take them back again until after 12 o'clock to-night, because there's no knowing what may happen."

The article naively advised "If you should hear any strange noise during the day, don't stop to look up, but put on your hat, and run as fast as you can, and if you can make better time than the Comet, you may escape."

At 2:30 that morning, just before the paper went to press, a panting reporter rushed into the news room from the Latting Observatory.  "He says that after levelling his opera-glass for several hours, and following the Comet all over Creation, he noticed a pause."  The Times concluded that the comet would not obliterate New York City.

When the city decided to erect a monument to George Washington, Waring Latting offered to erect another observatory on the Battery.  This one would be double the height of the original--topping off at an astonishing 600 feet.  Not everyone was quick to agree with the proposal.  Alderman Voorhis said he "was a lover of Washington, as were all good citizens, but he did not want to mix up the name of Washington with that of Latting--a mere speculator."

Those opposed to the idea may have been considering the fate of the existing Latting Observatory.  Shortly after the Exhibition closed in 1854, the structure was taken over by the Hydeville Marble Works, which chopped 75 feet off the top.   Once touted as a world class attraction, on October 20, 1855 The New York Times wrote "The Latting Observatory is converted into a shot tower."

Shot towers created shotgun ammunition by dropping molten lead through enormous sieve-like bowls.  As the drops of metal fell, they formed perfect spheres and upon hitting a large vat of water at the bottom, solidified to round shot balls.  The Observatory's somewhat humiliating new function would not last long.

Late on the night of August 30, 1856 fire broke out in the cooper shop of M. & E. Connolly on West 43rd Street.  It spread "with rapidity on every side," according to a newspaper.  The conflagration engulfed many buildings and destroyed more than $150,000 in property.  On September 1 The New York Times reported "The 'Latting Observatory' was completely destroyed, and the Crystal Palace was saved with much difficulty."

from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

But, interestingly enough, the legacy of Waring Latting's ground-breaking structure was yet to come.  Among the visitors to the tower in 1853 was French architect Gustave Eiffel.  William Naugle's structural ironwork stayed with him.  And when the French Government announced a contest on May 2, 1886 for an entrance tower for the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889, Eiffel hearkened back to the Latting Observatory.  

In an article entitled "The New York 'Eiffel' Tower of 1853" Engineering News compared the two structures.  "The Latting Observatory was simply a well-braced 'observation mast,' rising fro an extremely ugly base, built without regard to beauty of form and for a purely commercial purpose.  The Eiffel Tower, on the other hand, while also primarily designed for the collection of fees from visitors, was in itself a thing of surpassing grace."

The article noted "It is only due to M. Eiffel to say that while he acknowledges that the original idea of a 1,000-ft. tower was borrowed from America, he has so improved upon this idea that his structure is as far beyond the proposed iron tower of 1878 as that structure exceeded the wooden tower of 1853."

And so, while the Latting Observatory stood for only three years, its design planted the seed for one of the most recognized structures in the world.

Another tower, the Grace Building, sits on the site today.  photo by WestportWiki

The Lost 1853 Crystal Palace

From the collection of the Library of Congress

In 1854 architects Georg Carstensen and Karl Gildemeister wrote a detailed description of their astonishing new building, the New York Crystal Palace. “Everybody must be aware of the motives which prompted the erection of a Crystal Palace in New York for the purpose of an Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations,” they said.

Those motives were, simply put, a need for America to join the international frenzy started three years earlier by the opening of London’s Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. The centerpiece of this early world’s fair was an enormous Crystal Palace – constructed of cast iron and glass, it was an engineering and architectural phenomenon.

Immediately the great cities of Europe scrambled to stage their own versions of the international fair.

“The astonishing success which attended the original enterprise undertaken in London in the year 1851; the eagerness with which the example was followed by various countries that signified their intention of immediately entering upon a similar undertaking—all rendered it necessary that so grand a nation as America should in its turn realize on her own soil this novel idea of our progressive era.”

In short, the young United States was compelled to prove it was equal to its overseas counterparts.

On January 3, 1852 plans were made for an international exposition in New York City with its own Crystal Palace. A committee was organized and a lease was obtained from the city for the use of Reservoir Square—where Bryant Park now sits. At the time the Croton Reservoir faced Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, consuming half of the block—the remainder was the open park called Reservoir Square.

The Croton Reservoir was a mammoth Egyptian Revival structure from which the citizens of Manhattan received the water to their homes and office buildings. It would be a monumental backdrop for the Crystal Palace.

Rather than try to outdo the massive London Palace, the committee recommended a one-story structure with a construction budget of no more than $175,000. As the project inched forward, however, the plans would grow to a two-story edifice. Before long the cost had risen to $200,000.  Designs were submitted by cast iron pioneers Bogardus & Hoppin, and Leopold Eidlitz. But it would be Carstensen and Gildemeister who won the commission.

Cast iron construction was just coming into its own in the 1850s. Its popularity was due to the material’s versatility, fire-proof properties and relative inexpensiveness. The architects’ final elaborate design would be in the shape of a Greek cross with three entrances (on 6th Avenue, 40th Street and 42nd Street). At the juncture of the four arms a dome rose 123 feet from the floor with a 100-foot diameter.

The Crystal Palace begins to rise -- Illustrated London News 1853

The guide to the fair published in 1854, “How to See the New York Crystal Palace,” said “It is the largest, as well as almost the only dome hitherto erected in the United States. To our untraveled countrymen it may be an instructive example of the beauty and fine architectural effect of which this structure is capable, although its dimensions are trivial when compared with the majestic domes of the Pantheon or St. Peter’s.”

Two dozen cast iron columns supported the dome, each 62 feet high. Thirty-two stained glass windows decorated the sides of the dome, each representing the arms of the individual states as well as that of the Union.

The massive Egyptian Revival Croton Reservoir can be seen in the background -- etching NYPL Collection

To reach the second story, visitors would climb one of twelve broad staircases, one on each side of the entrances and four under the dome. The cast iron fittings inside—the staircases, railings and such—were painted a rich cream color accented in red, blue and yellow “in their several tints of vermilion, garnet, sky blue and orange” according to the guidebook. The only wood used in the construction was for the floors and window sashes.

The London Crystal Palace had experienced a serious problem when the heat of the sun streamed through the glass panes. Canvas awnings became necessary on the show floor to provide shaded relief to the visitors. Several ideas were discussed to avoid the same problem here, including using different materials for the dome.

The solution, invented by William Cooper of the New York glassworks company Cooper & Belcher, was ingenious.

An enamel substance was ground to a powder then applied to the nearly 10,000 panes of glass with a brush, in a pasty state. When the enamel dried, decorations were etched out either by hand or machinery and the panes were heated in a kiln, fusing the enamel onto the glass. Sunlight streamed through the resulting frosted panes in a gentle, filtered light with none of the excessive heat.

Stained and etched glass panels -- nearly 10,000 of them -- prevented overheating by the sun -- Library of Congress

On October 30, 1852 the first column had been erected “with appropriate ceremonies,” according to the architects. And indeed, the ceremonies included Governor Hunt, Mayor Kingland, Archbishop Hughes, two senators, one former senator, a general, a judge, the Rev. Mr. Pert “from Institute of the Deaf and Dumb,” and other gentlemen.

As the magnificent glass-and-iron structure rose like something from a fairy tale, Edgar Randolph, Superintendent of the New York Fire Department, publicized the precautions against fire that had been made. In July 1853 he provided a long list of the equipment, hoses, hydrants and buckets installed in the building, prompting The New York Times to announce “These arrangements would seem to imply an almost absolute immunity from the possibility of danger by fire.”

The Massachusetts Register for the Year 1853 spoke of the nearly-completed structure. “Such is the building which will soon salute the eyes of the city of New York. In asserting that it will be the largest and most beautiful construction in the country, nothing has been said more than it deserves.”

But the Register cautioned that Palace was less than the objects it would house. “There will be gathered here the choicest products of the luxury of the Old World, and the most cunning devices of the ingenuity of the New.”

Well-dressed citizens flocked to the ticket booth on opening day -- Illustrated News 1853

The Crystal Palace opened on July 30, 1853 and, indeed, it was packed with all the marvels of science, art and industry the world could offer. Thousands poured through the wide doors to view sculpture in the South Nave, paintings from all points of Europe and America, machinery and inventions. New York and the young country, not yet a century old, had held its own with the European capitols.

The ground floor covered approximately two acres -- NYPL Collection

Despite The Times' warning in 1852 that no one would cross the Atlantic to see New York’s fair, throngs of visitors were still cramming the Crystal Palace four years after its inauguration. Then, at 5:10 in the afternoon on October 5, 1858, tragedy struck.

One witness testified that he saw two or three boys hurrying away from the 42nd Street entrance. Moments later a brilliant flash was seen in the “lumber-room” near the 42nd Street doors where old wooden patterns, canvas and other trash was stored. Within seconds the entire room was blazing.

Firemen arrived within 20 minutes, too late to save the structure -- NYPL Collection

The fire spread up the staircase where a 31-jet gas lighting fixture added to its furor. By the time the blaze reached the rim of the dome, it had been fueled by cans of paint and an exhibition of bedding, wallpaper and other household goods. The superheated air filled the dome which, a mere twelve minutes after the fire started, exploded and crashed to the floor.

Approximately 2,000 visitors were in the Palace. When the managers ordered the 40th Street doors to be opened, the rush of air fanned the flames “with increasing and most fearful rapidity,” according to The Times. Luckily the three sets of doors were ten feet wide, allowing all 2,000 potential victims to escape.

Nine minutes after the dome had come crashing down, the entire structure was burned to the ground; its cast iron columns grotesquely twisted and charred. The entire episode lasted only 21 minutes.

The following morning little was left to be salvaged -- NYPL Collection

New York City would go on to have other World’s Fairs. There would be other memorable tourist attractions set in grand parks. But nothing quite like the amazing 1854 Crystal Palace would ever be seen in the city again.