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BRIEF HISTORY DURING THE SNOW ERA (1813-58)
In Regent's Park, a huge rotunda termed Colosseum was designed by Decimus Burton and opened in 1826 as an entertainment center, featuring a large panorama. Such panoramas arose from the creative efforts of Irish artist Robert Barker in the late eighteenth century. Barker created scenic paintings on cylindrical surfaces with curved lines so that they would appear correct when viewed from the stairs or top room of a center cylinder (see picture below).
Burton's Colosseum consisted of a polygonal hall 126 feet across lit by a glazed dome. The ceiling of the dome was a painted panorama mode by E. T. Parris and displayed an enormous circular view of London, as would be seen from the top of Saint Paul's Cathedra. The building also contained an organ, a museum of sculpture, a hall of mirrors, and a refreshment room. On the grounds was a grotto, a Gothic aviary (see picture below) and a Swiss chalet with a panorama of Mont Blanc. Gradually over time the popularity of the Colosseum declined and it was demolished in 1875. An actual photograph of the Colosseum in the late 1850s is seen below.
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Sources:
Porter R. London: A Social History, 1994.
Weinreb B, Hibbert C (eds). The London Encyclopaedia, 1993.
