A Thing in
Disguise: The Visionary Life of Joseph Paxton
By Kate Colquhoun
Fourth Estate. London 2003. £18.99
Reviewed by Dennis Dollens
Department of Genetic Architecture
Universitat Internacional de Catalunya,
Barcelona
exodesic@mac.com
When he is remembered,
Joseph Paxton is known for his design and
supervision of the Crystal Palacethe
1851 cast-iron and glass structure that
transcended its garden heritage (evolving
from greenhouses) to become the worlds
most advanced, technological structure.
Enclosing 21 acres and erected in a few
months, the Crystal Palace housed Englands
first blockbuster international exhibition.
Media and promotional support was so great
during its development that the building
became the exhibitions main attraction.
Its physical structure came to embody early
Victorian ideals of work and industry as
its image seeded future visions affecting
urban building typologies such as glass
atria, shopping arcades, and railroad stations.
Interestingly, the Crystal Palaces
appeal and vision crossed social boundaries,
receiving the early support of Prince Albert
and Queen Victoria then subsequently garnering
working class support in the form of massive
attendances (it was one of Cooks Tours
first destinations and workers could pay
travel expenses through advanced weekly
subscription). Such a building would be
the lifes triumph of a great engineer
or architect, but a gardener built the Crystal
Palace. And, it was only one of Joseph Paxtons
many triumphs.
So, while Kate Colquhouns chapters
describing the Crystal Palace are full of
revelations, those surrounding them, tell
a fairytale-like story of a developing genius.
They reveal Paxtons autodidactic path
and his ongoing and deep relationship with
his patron and later friend and colleague,
the 6th Duke of Devonshire. Paxtons
training ground was the Dukes Chatsworth
estate, where, over his lifetime, he transformed
landscape, garden, waterworks, and eventually
architectural history, concurrently transforming
himself into a Victorian icon of work and
intelligence. His collaboration with the
Duke resulted in botanic expeditions adding
new and formerly unknown trees, plants,
and orchids to Englands botanic patrimony
and together the Duke and Paxton made Chatsworth
the botanic showplace of Europe. Through
channels independent of the Duke, Paxton
wrote and edited garden magazines and later
founded a general London newspaper; hiring
Charles Dickens as editor. Even as writing
supplemented his healthy Chatsworth income
he also took on independent design work
(notably designing Baron Mayer de Rothschilds
1855 estate) as well as serving as a board
member and consultant for various railways.
If one 19th-century structure
could represent the seed of a new architectureand
like botanic seeds there are an abundance
of architectural seedsPaxtons
1835-38 Great Stove (as his greenhouse masterpiece
was known) would be my foremost candidate.
Looking at pictures of it (it was demolished
in 1920) one could be looking at a prismatic
or origami-like structure from todays
avant-garde. As a piece of pre-Victorian
design it is dazzling, anticipating Bruno
Tauts crystal architecture by almost
eighty years. The Great Stove is a set of
continuous folding facets or as Colquhoun
tells us "furrow and ridges," arched and
curved to cover and enormous 30,000 square
feet. Primarily a wood framed building,
the stoves elements were steam-milled
on site. Its glass scales were the largest
panes available (48 x 6 inches) and when
inserted into the skeletal-like frame created
a lightweight, undulating skin supported
by 36 interior, cast-iron columns. A material
hybrid not possible before the industrial
revolution, this buildings morphological
shape also owed nothing to architectural
history. Yet, effectively it was Paxtons
testing-ground for prefabrication and a
model for techniques he later refined for
the Crystal Palace. Therefore, if the Crystal
Palace is considered the beginning of enormous-scale
prefabrication projects, eventually leading
to Modernism, the Great Stove and other
works at Chatsworth, especially the glasshouse
sheltering the gigantic Amazonian water
lily, Victoria regia, were its germinating
bed. Colquhouns book rights this neglected
parentage.
A Thing in Disguise charts Paxtons
development as gardener, landscape designer,
writer, architect, politician, family man,
and friend; all part of his historic role
in 19th century England. Paxton
was a determined, hard worker who became
a national figurethe common man who
worked his way to the tophe was elected
to Parliament and knighted by Queen Victoria.
This is a benchmark biography and deserves
an honored place on every library shelf
serving architects, engineers, gardeners
and those interested in Victorian technology
and culture.