3-008-404 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Progress of the International Exhibition building: the forge, [London], 1862. View of '...a portion of the works going on at the building for the Great Exhibition which is well calculated to give an idea of the vastness of the operations..."The Forge"...is a section of a long range of similar furnaces, which are placed within a large shed, that stretches along the western side of the building from the front in Cromwell-road, and is situated in Prince Albert-road. It is modestly designated "The Smith's Shop," but it is in fact a cyclopean barrack, in which numerous fires are roaring and glittering, and hundreds of stalwart workmen are making the anvils ring with their massive blows. Nothing can be more simple and primitive than this structure; but, as will be seen from our Illustration, it has about it a certain touch of the picturesque; and, when viewed from end to end, at once conveys the idea that here is no common or ordinary work in process'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.