Hanington's Dioramic Representation of the Great Fire in New York, Dec. 16 and 17, 1835. Now Exhibiting with Other Moving Dioramic Scenes, at the American Museum Every Evening...
H. Sewell American
Not on view
New York has suffered many terrible fires, with one of the worst breaking out on December 16, 1835. Coals from a stove ignited a broken gas line in the commercial district south of Wall Street, and the resulting flames, fanned by high winds, proved uncontrollable. Over two days, 674 buildings were lost across seventeen blocks. This print advertises a diorama mounted at the American Museum in 1836 that allowed visitors to relive one of the disaster’s most dramatic moments—the collapse of the Merchants’ Exchange, a marble building that was supposedly fireproof. Within a year, five hundred new buildings had been erected and much of the devastated area restored and improved, demonstrating the city’s economic strength and incessant demand for real estate.
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