EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DE PARIS, 1889 A collection of contemporary photographs showing the construction of some of the buildings of the Exposition Universelle, Paris 1889. February 1887-October 1888
27 contemporary actual mounted photographs each 12.3 x 17cm on contemporary card mounts each 24 x 31cm, some with contemporary ms captions and dates. Boxed. The great international exhibitions frequently provided a showcase for the most up-to-date achievements in structure and architecture of the host nation, disseminating information about new building types or techniques. The Paris Exposition of 1889 was particularly notable for the extensive use of metal in its buildings, the most famous of which is the Eiffel Tower. However, other buildings were in some ways considerably more innovative and it some of these which are the subject of the present collection of photographs, which forms a site progress record of the early stages of construction.The most remarkable of the other buildings was the great Galerie des Machines, still an influence on architects today, despite its demolition so soon after the closing of the exhibition. While the Eiffel Tower was made of wrought iron, by the 1880s a well-tried structural material, the Galerie des Machines pioneered the use of steel for long-span roof structures. It also put the three-hinged arch on the map. The building, designed by Dutert (architect) and Contamin (engineer), was 420m long and 48m high with a clear span of 110.6m, would have been breath-taking for its size alone, regardless of its advanced structural thinking. Furthermore, it gave an opportunity to try out construction methods suitable for a building of this type and on this sort of scale, which might serve contractors in the future. Thus erection of the Galerie des Machines was shared by two major contractors, La Compagnie des Fives-Lille and La Société des Etablissements Cail. Cail assembled each frame from small 3-ton elements on a continuous centre, whereas Fives-Lille made them up from four large elements of up to 50 tons and assembled them on three mobile timber support towers. The two side pieces were tilted upright and the two centre pieces lifted into place. Of the photographs in this group, one shows the Cail method and six the dramatic Fives-Lille solution.The Galerie des Expositions Diverses (or Palais des Industries Diverses) was designed, like the Galerie des Machines, by Dutert and Contamin. It consisted of a series of sheds, each made up from standard 25m span tapered double-pitched roof trusses sitting on latticed columns. Its construction was also shared among a number of contractors and seven photographs show the erection of some of the frames by the various firms as indicated in the captions. The building was pierced by the Nef Centrale which was surmounted by Bouvard's wrought-iron and glass dome, 65m high. There are two dramatic pictures of the skeleton of this dome, and two of the smaller dome at the intersection of the Nef Centrale and the Galerie des Machines. Most the the Galerie des Expositions Diverses was completed by mid-1888 and in July of that year the Banquet des Maires (of all the Départements) was held in it; two photographs show the tables laid for this event.The collection comprises the following photographs:Galerie des Machines. 8 pictures. 1 captioned and dated February 1887 in ink, 1 captioned and dated October 1888 in pencil 1 captioned in pencil but undated. The remainder unmarked.Galerie des Expositions Diverses. 7 pictures. Captioned and dated May, July 1887 in ink.Banquet des Maires. 2 pictures. Unmarked and undated (but July 1888)Dome of the Nef Centrale. 2 pictures. Both captioned, though not dated, in pencil.Dome at the intersection of the Nef Centrale and the Galerie des Machines. 2 pictures. Both unmarked.Arcade between two sections of the Galerie des Expositions Diverses. 1 picture.Unmarked.Palais des Arts Libéraux. 3 pictures. All unmarked.Panorama de Tout-Paris. 1 picture. Unmarked.Machine à fabriquer le béton Coignet pour les égouts. 1 picture. Captioned and dated April 1887 in ink.
£2250
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