Venice in London was a spectacular held at Olympia in London from 26 December 1891 to January 1893. It was also variously described as Venice The Bride of the Sea at Olympia, Venice at Olympia, etc.
Venice in London was a spectacular held at Olympia in London from 26 December 1891 to January 1893. It was also variously described as Venice The Bride of the Sea at Olympia, Venice at Olympia, etc.
The show was the brainchild of the caterer Joseph Lyons and his business partner Harold Hartley. [1] [2] [3] Hartley, who owned the Pure Water Company, had met Lyons when supplying aerated water to the builders of the Imperial Institute (completed 1893). [4] As Hartley told it in his memoirs, Eighty-eight Not Out (1939):
One evening later on Lyons, who had never travelled, asked me if I had ever been to Venice, as he had an idea that it might be reproduced with its canals in an attractive form. Being well acquainted with Venice, I at once realized its possibilities and thus "Venice in London" was born. Visions of the Grand Canal, with its churches, palaces, and gondolas flashed through my mind. [4]
Through his firm J. Lyons and Co., Lyons and his business partners had the contract for the catering at Olympia. The event combined catering by Lyons, entertainments and opportunities to purchase souvenirs with a stage show designed and directed by the theatrical impresario Imre Kiralfy who specialised in spectacular events and lent his name to the production in order to increase its appeal to the public. [2] It required the import of 100 gondolas from Venice with Venetian gondoliers. [5] According to The Times, 4,893,980 people visited the event in its first year with 24,737 visiting on Boxing Day 1892. [6]
The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a sculling manner and also acts as the rudder. The uniqueness of the gondola includes it being asymmetrical along the length making the single-oar propulsion more efficient.
Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. was an American banker who played a major role in the rise of modern global finance after the American Civil War. As the dominant partner of Drexel & Co. of Philadelphia, he founded Drexel, Morgan & Co in New York in 1871 with J. P. Morgan as his junior partner. He also founded Drexel University in 1891. He was also the first president of the Fairmount Park Art Association, the nation's first private organization dedicated to integrating public art and urban planning.
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Sir Joseph Nathaniel Lyons DL was the chairman of J. Lyons and Co., a restaurant chain, food manufacturing and hotel conglomerate created in 1884 that dominated British mass-catering in the first half of the twentieth century.
Harold Thomas Hartley was a British journalist, publisher, mineral water manufacturer, and professional organiser of exhibitions. He was closely associated with Joseph Lyons and the early development of the J. Lyons & Co. catering company. He was also a noted art collector and bibliophile.
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