An Exhibition of Fair Play
After Joseph Paxton won the competition to design the venue for the Great Exhibition of 1851, he recalled how his rival had helped him.
1851
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
After Joseph Paxton won the competition to design the venue for the Great Exhibition of 1851, he recalled how his rival had helped him.
1851
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
In 1851, the Great Exhibition opened in the groundbreaking Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton (1803-1865). The decision to run with Paxton’s innovative concept was taken at the last minute, and was a disappointment to Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), who was hoping his Great Dome would become a London landmark. Paxton tells us Brunel behaved like a gentleman throughout.
I AM bound to say, that I have been treated by the Committee with great fairness. Mr Brunel, the author of the great dome, I believe was at first so wedded to his own plan, that he would hardly look at mine. But Mr Brunel was a gentleman, and a man of fairness, and listened with every attention to all that could be urged in favour of my plans.
As an instance of that gentleman’s very creditable conduct, I will mention, that a difficulty presented itself to the Committee as to what was to be done with the large trees, and it was gravely suggested that they should be walled in. I remarked, that I could cover the trees without any difficulty;* when Mr Brunel asked, ‘Do you know their height?’ I acknowledged that I did not. On the following morning, Mr Brunel called at Devonshire-house,* and gave me the measurement of the trees, which he had taken early in the morning, adding, ‘Although I mean to try to win with my own plan, I will give you all the information I can.’
Paxton’s boast was justified, as can be seen from the painting accompanying this story and from a contemporary photograph at Wikimedia Commons. See Paxton’s Palace.
Paxton had been employed by the Duke of Devonshire since 1826, starting at Chatsworth in Derbyshire and gradually widening his portfolio to the Duke’s other residences in England and Ireland; these included Devonshire House. By 1849, Paxton was taking care of the Duke’s financial affairs and was a consultant on several landscape projects around the country. It was the Lily House at Chatsworth where Paxton pioneered his remarkable glass roof, the basis of his Crystal Palace design.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.