3-011-486 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ruins of the Great Exhibition Building of 1862, [London], (1864). Engraving from a sketch '...looking in an easterly direction along the Cromwell-road...The grand central entrance appears in the foreground; and, beyond this, a portion of the tower at the comer of the Exhibition-road. In the background are the buildings attached to the Gardens of the Horticultural Society, which mark the sight of the Exhibition Refreshment Rooms. On Tuesday last the Engineers and labourers completed the clearing away the debris of the two towers in the Exhibition-road, which had been dislodged by gunpowder. Profiting by the experience gained in connection with these new experiments for removing masses of masonry, the tower was deposed in two divisions, the force of the explosive power at the base being considerably increased, the result being that, instead of being precipitated laterally, as on the last occasion, into the road, the columns crumbled down, so to speak, upon themselves with only a slight noise and scattering of the materials. Operations will be next taken for the demolition and removal of the towers in the Albert-road, and of the grand entrance'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.