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On today's map you wouldn't have a clue as to where the Crystal Palace at Reservoir Square was located. Looking at a William Perris' fire insurance map from 1853 however reveals that, where now stands our magnificent central library on the corner of 5th Avenue & 42nd Street, once stood the huge Croton distributing reservoir, gravity feeding the thirsty city from near the top of Murray Hill and a spectacular Crystal Palace, seen here as the large purple shape on the top left.
You can see both the reservoir and the Crystal Palace here.
An even closer look reveals a handwritten note reading "50,000". This is a fire insurance map which probably means that the fire insurance policy taken out for the Crystal Palace was $50,000 or about $1.5 million in today's dollars.
That seems like a shockingly low price for such a spectacular building.
Especially considering the fact that in 1858 it burned to the ground.
The story goes that the morning after the fire, in typical New York City fashion, street hawkers were selling still warm pieces of the melted Crystal Palace.
Bearings. NYPL Art and Architecture Collection.
One of 700,000 pictures in the NYPL Digital Gallery
![Map bounded by West 42nd Street, East 42nd Street, Fourth Avenue, East 37th Street, West 37th Street, Sixth Avenue.], Digital ID 1615985, New York Public Library](http://images.nypl.org/?id=1615985&t=w "Map bounded by West 42nd Street, East 42nd Street, Fourth Avenue, East 37th Street, West 37th Street, Sixth Avenue.], Digital ID 1615985, New York Public Library")
Comments
Fire
Submitted by Marc on January 7, 2009 at 2:33 PM.
Everyday I walk the New York streets and am amazed at what great structures the city has preserved. But then you think of all the magnificent places that have burned or have been knocked down and you wonder how much more beautiful this place could be.
NYC changing
Submitted by Matt Knutzen on January 7, 2009 at 10:22 PM.
A friend of mine has a funny line that I'm sure is as old as the city itself
...New York will be a great city as soon as it is finished.
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