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The Iron Ribs of Hyde Park
Joseph Paxton stood in the churned mud of Hyde Park, rain drumming against the brim of his wool hat, staring up at the bare cast-iron skeletons that were supposed to house the Great Exhibition. Three hundred workmen were waiting for his signal, steam cranes hissed impatiently in the grey mist, and the royal building committee had just dispatched an ultimatum: unless the central transept could prove its structural stability by dusk, the glass palace would be dismantled in favor of a conventional brick warehouse.
"The Birmingham foundries sent thirty arched ribs with misaligned bolt sockets," said Robert, the master founder, wiping greasy rain from his knuckles. "If we send them back across the midlands for recast, the opening will be delayed by six weeks."
"We cannot afford to do so," Paxton said, running his bare hand along the rough flange of the nearest column.