Perisphere
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History
The Perisphere was one of the more infamous and recognizable attractions featured at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The Perisphere was designed by architects Wallace Harrison and J. Andre Fouilhoux, with the interior exhibit by Henry Dreyfuss. As its name suggests, the Perishphere was a tremendous sphere, 180 feet in diameter located at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. The sphere housed a diorama called "Democracity" which, in keeping with the fair's theme "The World of Tomorrow", depicted a Utopian city-of-the-future. Democracity was viewed from above on a moving sidewalk, under movies displayed on the sides of the sphere. After exiting the Perisphere, visitors descended to ground level on the third element of the Theme Center, the Helicline, a long spiral ramp that partially encircled the Perisphere.
The Trylon and the Perisphere became symbols of the 1939 World's Fair, reproduced on promotional materials and serving as the fairground's focal point. Adjacent to the Perisphere was a seven-hundred foot tall spire known as the Trylon.
In 1940, Green Lantern Alan Scott investigated a criminal gang at the Fairgrounds involving a gangster named Murdock. The case culminated in a fight between Scott and Murdock atop the Perisphere. During the struggle, Murdock lost his footing and plummeted to his death.
In 1942, the war-time super-hero team the All-Star Squadron used the Perisphere as their base of operations. They occupied the area until mid-1943, after which, the Trylon and the Perisphere were razed. The materials from which they were constructed was recycled for military armaments throughout the remainder of the war.
Points of Interest
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| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Perisphere. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with DC Database, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
