building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

manufacturing industries held a total capital of 6,500,000 dollars, accrued in Lowell
in under ten years. This amount provided by private investors equalled
approximately the possible expenditure of an entire state. As a paragon to these
investments, the annual salary of the President of the United States, Andrew
Jackson, was 25,000 dollars in 1834, whereas that of his vice, Martin Van Buren was
5,000 dollars. In addition, there were banks, insurance offices, marshals and general
officers, various courts of justice, schools, a post office and 12 Christian churches
corresponding to the same number of religious faiths, which lived safely side by
side. This was all obviously organised to avoid any social conflicts, which could
interrupt work. Out of 12,363 individuals only 326 were over the age of 50 (the
majority being between the age of 15 and 30) and the number of women was
double the number of men (7,929 as opposed to 4,537). However, other entities
featuring the textile industry also existed in other parts of the world. In 1811, Lowell
had actually visited several factories during his stay in England and the organisation
of the English textile industries was to inspire him as regards their methods of
processing and their machinery.
In England, Manchester was the town in the cotton industry, par excellence. The
landscape created by the textile industry was the fruit of the English colonial effort,
but the city of Manchester, similar to the town of Lowell put forward new ideas,
which did not pass unnoticed and which led to new, disturbing enigmas. We refer to
the observations by Friedrich Engels (1820‐1895), contained in his book The
condition of the working class in England (1844), and above all to the careful
thoughts of Karl Friederich Schinkel, made in 1826 during his English trip 167 . The
Prussian architect undertook a long journey first through France and then England
to study the ways in which museums were organised. However, his curiosity also led
him to observe non‐institutional buildings and situations, to examine landscapes,
iron bridges and factories. Within the original industrial scene in Manchester,
looking at the large mills standing out against the sky, Schinkel wondered about
those enormous buildings which, in his opinion, appeared to promise an era of a
new architectural style and a new urban landscape.
167 See BINDMAN, David, RIEMANN, Gottfried, (eds) The English journey : journal of a visit to France
and Britain in 1826 / Karl Friedrich Schinkel, New Haven, London, Yale University Press, 1993
98