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The Industry Palace of the 1873 World’s Fair: Karl von Hasenauer, John Scott Russell, and New Technology in Nineteenth-Century Vienna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

John W. Stamper
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Extract

The buildings and landscaped grounds of the nineteenth-century international exhibitions were directly related to the architectural and urban design traditions of the cities in which they were built. At the same time, they possessed idealized qualities that made them innovative and distinct from other contemporary buildings. The result of collaborative planning among architects, engineers, and planning committees, the exhibitions were built to evoke ideal civic settings, their exhibition palaces, pavilions, and gardens forming exemplary complexes that synthesized both invention and tradition. The International Exhibition, the Weltausstellung, held in Vienna, Austria in 1873, was one such event (Fig. 1). Its buildings were both related to the architectural and urbanistic design traditions of nineteenth-century Vienna, and at the same time possessed idealized qualities that were inventive and progressive, marking new technological achievements.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 47 , 2004 , pp. 227 - 250
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 2004

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References

Notes

1 For information on the national industrial exhibitions of the first half of the nineteenth century in France, see Bouin, Philippe and Chanut, Christian-Philippe, Histoire française des foires et des expositions universelles (Paris, 1990), pp. 23–54 Google Scholar; Friebe, Wolfgang, Buildings of the World Exhibitions, trans. Vowles, Jenny and Roper, Paul (Leipzig, 1985), pp. 5–7 Google Scholar; Luckhurst, Kenneth W., The Story of Exhibitions (London and New York, 1951), pp. 28–42, 63-69, 80-95Google Scholar; and Allwood, John, The Great Exhibitions (London, 1977), pp. 9–12 Google Scholar.

2 For information on the Universal Exhibition of 1855 see Friebe, Buildings of the World Exhibitions, pp. 33-37; and Bouin and Chanute, Histoire française, pp. 56-73.

3 Friebe, Buildings of the World Exhibitions, pp. 14, 38, 48, and 50. For information on the exhibits of the Vienna Weltausstellung, see ‘The Vienna Universal Exhibition in 1873’, The Builder, 30 (21 September 1872), p. 744; ‘Progress of the Vienna Exhibition’, Engineering, 15 (18 April 1873), pp. 273-74; ‘Progress of the Vienna Exhibition’, Engineering, 15 (25 April 1873), pp. 292-93; ‘Progress of the Vienna Exhibition’, Engineering, 15 (2 May 1873), pp. 308-09.

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8 Exiled from his native Dresden in 1848, Gottfried Semper lived in London, then Zurich, Switzerland, where he taught at the Zurich Polytechnikum. For biographical information on Semper, see Malgrave, Harry Francis, Gottfried Semper: Architect of the Nineteenth Century (New Haven, 1996), p. 357 Google Scholar, and passim.

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10 Schwartzer, Mitchell, German Architectural Theory and the Search for Modern Identity (New York, 1995), p. 103 Google Scholar.

11 Among those critical of the Renaissance style in the mid-i8oos were Johann Heinrich Wolff and Heinrich Hübsch. See Malgrave, Gottfried Semper, p. 357.

12 Hitchcock, Henry Russell, Architecture Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Baltimore, 1963), pp. 147-48Google Scholar.

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17 The emperor issued the decree to Alexander Baron von Bach, who headed the Ministry of Public Works, on 20 December 1857. See Schorske, Carl, Fin-de-siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture (New York, 1980), p. 27 Google Scholar.

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19 Friebe, Buildings of the World’s Exhibitions, p. 49.

20 Palmer, Twilight of the Habsburgs, p.183.

21 ‘The Vienna Exhibition’, Engineering, 14 (16 August 1872), p. 121.

22 Bancroft, Hubert Howe, The Book of the Fair: An Historical and Descriptive Presentation (Chicago, 1893), p. 19 Google Scholar.

23 Quoted from a speech by Schwarz-Senborn on 18 November 1871, published in 1872. See Schwarz-Senborn, Wilhelm von, ‘Die Weltausstellung 1873’, Zeitschrift des oesterreichischen ingenieur und Architekten Vereines, 24 (1872), p. 66 Google Scholar.

24 ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. I’, Engineering, 15 (3 January 1873), p. 1.

25 Friebe, Buildings of the World’s Exhibitions, p. 49.

26 ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. I’, p. 1.

27 Friebe, Buildings of the World’s Exhibitions, p. 49.

28 Schwarz-Senborn outlined the deficiencies of the previous world’s fair buildings in his address of 18 November 1871. See Schwartz-Senborn, ‘Die Weltausstellung 1873’, p. 66; and see ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. 1’, p. 1.

29 Pascal, J.-L., ‘Exposition Universelle de Vienne: Le Palais du Prater’, Revue de l’architecture et des travaux publics, 31 (1874), p. 103 Google Scholar; Schwarz-Senborn, ‘Die Weltausstellung 1873’, pp. 65-69; ‘The Vienna Exhibition’, p. 121; ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. II’, Engineering, 15 (24 January 1873), pp. 57-58; ‘Vienna and Its Exhibition Building’, The Builder, 31 (18 January 1873), pp. 39-40.

30 Schwarz-Senborn, ‘Die Weltausstellung 1873’, p. 67.

31 ‘Vienna and Its Exhibition Building’, p. 39; ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. II’, p. 58; Wilhelm Engerth was appointed as chief engineer. Toman, Rolf (ed.), Vienna: Art and Architecture (Vienna, 1999), p. 205 Google Scholar.

32 Mallgrave, Gottfried Semper, p. 314.

33 Schwartz-Senborn, ‘Die Weltausstellung 1873’, p. 67; and ‘The Vienna Exhibition’ (16 August 1872), p. 121.

34 Stephen, Leslie and Lee, Sidney (eds), The Dictionary of National Biography, 17 (Oxford, 1993), pp. 465-67Google Scholar.

35 For detailed descriptions of the plan of the Industry Palace, see Bridges, Lyman, ‘Report on the Buildings of the Exhibition’, in Reports of the Commissioners of the United States to the International Exhibition Held at Vienna, 1873, iv (Washington, D.C., 1876), pp. 5–6 Google Scholar; Démy, Adolphe, Essai historique sur les expositions universelles de Paris (Paris, 1907), p. 194 Google Scholar; Friebe, Buildings of the World’s Exhibitions, 51; ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. I’, pp. 1-2; ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. II’, p. 58; ‘The Vienna Universal Exhibition in 1873’ (21 September 1872), p. 744.

36 Most written descriptions of the 1873 Palace of Industry indicate that its principal nave was 2,800 ft long. However, this does not correspond with scaled drawings of the plan which show a length of 2,975 ft- An article in Engineering, ‘The Vienna Exhibition’, 15 (17 January 1873), p. 43, states that the dimension was 2,953 ft. For information on the dimensions of the Crystal Palace, see Lieberman, Ralph, ‘The Crystal Palace: A Late Twentieth Century View of its Changing Place in Architectural History and Criticism’, AA Files, 12 (Summer 1986), p. 48 Google Scholar; and Sir Wyatt, Mathew Digby, ‘The Construction of the Building’, in Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations; Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue, 1 (London, 1851), pp. 51–68 Google Scholar. For information on the 1867 Palace of Industry in Paris, see ‘Paris Exhibition’, Building News, 14 (22 March 1867), p. 206; ‘The Paris Universal and Permanent Exhibition’. The Builder, 20 (6 September 1862), p. 637; Vauthier, L.-L., ‘Revue retrospective de l’exposition de 1867: Le Palais de Champ de Mars’, Revue de l’architecture et des travaux publics, 26 (1868), pp. 194–205 Google Scholar; Steiner, Francis, French Iron Architecture (Ann Arbor, MI, 1984), pp. 94–95 Google Scholar.

37 Sirk, ‘Vienna, 1873’, p. 49.

38 ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. II’, p. 58; ‘Das Bauwesen auf der Wiener Weltausstellung des Jahres 1873’, Deutsche Bauzeitung, 7 (4 October 1873), pp. 307-09; Pascal, ‘Exposition Universelle de Vienne’, pp. 100-10.

39 Friebe, Buildings of the World Exhibitions, p. 49.

40 ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. II’, p. 58.

41 Bridges, ‘Report on the Buildings’, p. 6; ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. II’, p. 58. For description of the ornamentation of the Bibliothèque Ste-Geneviève, see Levine, Neil, ‘ The Romantic Idea of Architectural Legibility: Henri Labrouste and the Neo-Grec’, in Drexler, Arthur (ed.), The Architecture of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (New York and Cambridge, 1977), pp. 333-57Google Scholar. For the 1855 Palace of Industry, see Hautecoeur, Louis, Histoire de L’architecture classique, VII (Paris: A. Picard, 1943-57), PP. 316-17Google Scholar; Bouin and Chanut, Histoire française, p. 58; 1855 Exposition Clipping file, Bibliothèque Histoire de la Ville de Paris, series 122.

42 Esposizione Universale di Vienna del 1873 (Milan, 1873), p. 8.

43 For descriptions of the exterior of the 1855 Palace of Industry, see Hautecoeur, , Histoire de L’architecture classique, VII, pp. 316-17Google Scholar; 1855 Exposition Clipping file, Bibliothèque Histoire de la Ville de Paris, series 122; and Zanten, David Van, Designing Paris: The Architecture of Duban, Labrouste, Duc, and Vaudoyer (Cambridge, 1987), p. 218, 222-23Google Scholar.

44 Mallgrave, Gottfried Semper, p. 329.

45 For an explanation of the iconographie program of the Art History Museum, for instance, see Mallgrave, Gottfried Semper, pp. 314-26.

46 Ibid., p. 331.

47 For a description of the structure of the 1873 Industry Palace, see ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. VI’, Engineering, 15 (21 March 1873), pp. 195-96; and ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. VII’, Engineering, 15 (4 April 1873), pp. 231-33. For detailed illustrations, see ‘The Vienna Exhibition’, Engineering, 15 (7 February 1873), pp. 98-104; ‘Weltausstellung in Wien 1873’, Zeitschrift des Oesterreichischen Ingenieur und Architekten Vereines, 25 (1873), pls 17-25; and ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. III’, pp. 127-28.

48 ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. III’, pp. 127-28.

49 Ibid.

50 Ibid.

51 Ibid.

52 The diameter of the dome of St Paul’s is 34 m, St Peter’s 49 m. ‘The Vienna Exhibition’, Engineering, 14 (23 August 1872), p. 127.

53 For information about the Commission’s proposal for the 1851 Exhibition, see Luckhurst, The Story of Exhibitions, p. 106; and Rolt, Lionel and Caswell, Thomas, Isambard Kingdom Brunei (Harmondsworth, England, 1970), pp. 230-31Google Scholar.

54 For information on the Palace of Industry of the 1862 Exhibition in London, see Hollingshead, John, A Concise History of the International Exhibition of 1862: Its Rise and Progress, Its Building and Features, and a Summary of all Former Exhibitions (London, 1862), pp. 127-28Google Scholar; The International Exhibition of 1862; The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department, 1 (London, 1862), p. 49; ‘The Building for the Exhibition of 1862’, Building News, 7 (4 October 1861), pp. 797-98; ‘The Buildings of the International Exhibition of 1862’, Building News, 7 (15 March 1861), p. 220; ‘International Exhibition Building, 1862’, Building News, 7 (29 March 1861), p. 263.

55 Hitchcock, Architecture Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, pp. 123, 127-28; and Hitchcock, Henry Russell, ‘The Coal Exchange’, Architectural Review, 101 (1947), pp. 185-87Google Scholar. The dome of the Coal Exchange was 60 ft in diameter and 74 ft high.

56 For information on the dome of the Industry Palace of 1873, see Démy, Essai historique, pp. 194-95; Picard, Alfred, Exposition universelle de 1900 à Paris: Rapport générale administratif et technique (Paris, 1902), 2, p. 222 Google Scholar; Bridges, ‘Report on the Buildings’, pp. 9-11; Friebe, Buildings of the World’s Exhibitions, pp. 49-52; Allwood, The Great Exhibitions, p. 50; Russell, John Scott, ‘On the Central Dome of the Vienna Exhibition Building’, Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 24-25 (1874-75), pp. 103-25Google Scholar; ‘Discussion on Mr. Scott Russell’s Paper on the Central Dome of the Vienna Exhibition Building’, Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 24-25 (1873-75), PP. 127-40; ‘The Vienna Exhibition’ (23 August 1872), pp. 127-28; ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. IV’, Engineering, 15 (7 March 1873), pp. 159-61; ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. V’, Engineering, 15 (14 March 1873), pp. 177-78; ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. VIII’, Engineering, 15 (11 April 1873), pp. 260-69; ‘Vienna and Its Exhibition Building’, The Builder, 31 (18 January 1873), pp. 39-40; ‘The Rotunda for the Vienna Exhibition’, The Builder, 31 (12 April 1873), pp. 290-91; ‘The Vienna Exhibition’, The Builder, 31 (24 May 1873), p. 402; ‘Buildings for the Vienna Exhibition’, The Builder, 33 (2 January 1875), pp. 5-6; ‘The Vienna Exhibition’, Engineer, 35 (9 May 1873), p. 286; Schwarz-Senborn, ‘Die Weltausstellung 1873’, pp. 66-69.

57 Scott Russell, ‘On the Central Dome’, pp. 108-09.

58 ‘The Vienna Exhibition of 1873, No. IV’, p. 161.

59 ‘Buildings for the Vienna Exhibition’ (2 January 1875), p. 5.

60 ‘The Vienna Exhibition’ (9 May 1873), p. 286.

61 Ibid.

62 ‘Discussion on Mr. Scott Russell’s Paper on the Central Dome’ (1873-75), p. 136.

63 Because it was such a distinctive element, and given its expensive iron-frame construction, the Imperial Commission decided the domed portion of the building should remain after the close of the fair. It housed Vienna’s Corn Exchange and various trade fairs until it was destroyed by fire in 1937. Sirk, ‘Vienna 1873’, p. 49. A comparison can be drawn with James Bunstin Bunning’s London Coal Exchange.

64 Pascal, ‘Exposition Universelle de Vienne’, p. 108.

65 Luckhurst, The Story of Exhibitions, p. 135.

66 Ibid.

67 For information about the architecture of the buildings on the Ringstrasse, see Hoffmann, Hans-Christoph, Krause, Walter, and Kitlitschka, Werner, Das Wiener Opernhaus (Wiesbaden, 1972)Google Scholar; Wagner-Rieger, Wiens Architektur, pp. 126-28, 194-95; Lhotsky, Alphons, Festschrift des Kunsthistorischen Museums zur Feier des Fünfzigjährigen Bestandes, Part 1: die Baugeschichte der Museen und der Neuen Burg (Vienna, 1941), pp. 36–93 Google Scholar; Eggert, Klaus, Friedrich von Schmidt, Gottfried Semper und Karl von Hasenauer (Wiesbaden, 1978)Google Scholar; Hitchcock, Architecture Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, pp. 147-51; Renate Wagner-Rieger, , Wiens Architektur im 19. Jahrhundert (Vienna, 1970), pp. 162-67Google Scholar; Schorske, Fin-de-siècle Vienna, pp. 24-115; Hurliman, Martin, Vienna (New York, 1970), p. 97 Google Scholar; Wibiral, Norbert, ‘Heinrich von Ferstel und der Historismus in der Baukunst des 19. Jahrhunderts’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Vienna, 1952)Google Scholar; Renata Kassal-Mikula, , Heinrich von Ferstel Bauten und Projekte (Vienna, 1983)Google Scholar.

68 Schorske, Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture, pp. 24-115; Hitchcock, Architecture Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, pp. 147-51.

69 Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, pp. 69-70.

70 Mentioned in Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, p. 78; Gurlitt, Cornelius, Geschichte des Barockstils in Italien (Stuttgart, 1887)Google Scholar; Wöfflin, Heinrich, Renaissance and Baroque, trans. Simon, Katherine (Ithaca, 1966)Google Scholar.

71 Mentioned in Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, p. 78; Wöfflin, Renaissance and Baroque, 73-88.

72 Schwarzer, German Architectural Theory, p. 78.

73 Ibid., p. 79.

74 Ibid.; Giedion, Space, Time, and Architecture, p. 260.

75 Barea, Ilse, Vienna (New York, 1966), p. 244 Google Scholar.

76 Ibid., p. 244.

77 Herrmann, Wolfgang, Gottfried Semper: In Search of Architecture (Cambridge, 1984), p. 121 Google Scholar.

78 Ibid., pp. 122-23.

79 Boyd, James P., The Paris Exposition of1900 Illustrated (New York, 1900), p. 33 Google Scholar; Allwood, The Great Exhibition, p. 50.