The English Village, known as "Merrie England," at the 1934 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago was one of the "villages" that were added for the second year of the Fair. There were recreations of villages from foreign lands and past times, which also included Streets of Paris, Belgian Village, Italian Village, Spanish Village, Swiss Village, Colonial Village, Black Forest Village, Irtish Village, and Tunisian Village. The postcard above has a drawing of an aerial view of the English Village. The facade or outside wall of the village had recreations of castle architecture, while inside there were various types of historical buildings. The back of this postcard has the printed description shown below:
Other buildings inside Merrie England that were mentioned in the Official Guide Book of the Fair included Harvard home, Robert Burns's cottage and John Knox home from Scotland, and The Olde Curiosity Shop from Charles Dickens' novel. Careful studies of original buildings were made in England and Scotland, and plaster casts of exteriors were used for exact reproductions of their appearance.
Western Photogravure Co. of Chicago published many black and white postcards with views of Merrie England. Some of them are show below.
North Gate - Allington Castle
Hampton Court Palace Gate
Norman Gateway
Morris Dancers - Village Green
Shakespeare's Old Globe Theater
Leycester Court
Interior, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
Visit Sepia Saturday
For More Vintage Images
Postcards of stereotypes - great fun.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine why the artist added all the flags at half-mast. Was this intentional for some reason now lost?
ReplyDeleteThat Century of Progress was quite sonething wasn't it. Very interesting scenes.
ReplyDeleteOh I wish I would have been born a few years earlier. I'm from Chicago, but missed this fabulous fair by a few years. Doesn't it look so fascinating and fabulous and so elaborate.
ReplyDeleteNancy
Merrie England, indeed! It looks very similar to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, where I was a strolling musician in Olde England. It was probably a major influence on educating Americans on British culture before the war.
ReplyDeleteSurprised to see an Aussie Flag included.
ReplyDeleteA fascinating collection of photographs of a vision of "Ye Olde England"!
ReplyDeleteI find the black and white postcards to be more interesting than the garish aerial view. Why Dickens' Old Curiousity shope was included I can't see - it was fictional after all.
ReplyDeleteQuite a collection of "castles" in the US.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been a popular place during the fair!
ReplyDeleteI;m impressed by the number of cards you have on this subject. The Norman Gateway is my fave, possibly for its graceful lines. Great post!!
ReplyDelete:)~
HUGZ
You certainly found a collection of castles. I ended up using a prison.
ReplyDeleteGreat selection of exhibition/esposition postcards.
ReplyDeleteThese are quite fun! I imagine Disney was influenced by places like this.
ReplyDeleteYe Old Chesire Cheese would probably not be a restaurant I'd stop in, unless I was wanting cheese.
It's a wonderful collection of postcards on that theme.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy reproduction villages. I'm sure I would have really enjoyed the Merrie England exhibit at the Century of Progress Exposition.
ReplyDeleteThese were quite fun to look at! I too was thinking of Disney when I saw them.
ReplyDelete