Bird's Eye View of the New York Crystal Palance and Environs by BACHMANN, John - 1853

1853. BACHMANN, John. Bird's Eye View of the New York Crystal Palance and Environs. New York. 1853. Large color lithograph, approximately 23 x 31 inches. Matted and framed. Very good. Large bird's-eye view of the New York Crystal Palace from the north with downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn in the background. Printed in color by Bachmann. Reps appraised Bachmann in the following glowing terms: "No finer artist of city views worked in America than John Bachmann." The New York Crystal Palace imitated the more famous Crystal Palace built in Hyde Park in London as an exhibition hall, matching its revolutionary iron and glass construction and serving a similar purpose as an exhibition hall. Opened in 1853, the year this view was made, in burned down in 1858. It sat on the present site of Bryant Park, immediately to the west of the New York Public Library, and over some of the NYPL stacks. Immediately to the east was the Egyptian Revival style resevoir at the terminal point of the Croton Aqueduct. This was demolished in the early 20th century to make way for the present NYPL building. REPS, VIEWS AND VIEWMAKERS OF URBAN AMERICA, p.160.