Competition, Closure and Demolition
Although Wyld undoubtedly recouped his investment within the first year of opening, over the remaining nine years of its existence the appeal of the Great Globe slowly waned. The attraction continued to draw crowds, but it was never as successful as in 1851 when the Great Exhibition had pulled visitors into the capital. By the mid-1850s the building was looking shabby and Wyld had been forced to start using it as venue for variety shows. Competition came from Burford's Panorama in the north of the square which ran topical shows just as Wyld did – Burford ran a panorama show of Sevastopol at the same time as Wyld was exhibiting his model. Burford's Panorama was the oldest of its type in London, having been established in 1790, but there were many similar attractions in the capital, among them the Diorama and the Cyclorama in Regent's Park, the panoramas of "London by Day" and "Paris by Night" at the Colosseum, the dioramas at the Gallery of Illustration in Regent Street, and the Panorama of Paris and Versailles in the Linwood Gallery in Leicester Square.
The Panopticon of Science and Art, constructed in the square in 1854, also had an impact on visitor numbers. The Panopticon was constructed by a consortium hoping to take advantage of the market for scientific and cultural attractions, but like the Great Globe it struggled to draw sufficient visitors. After two years the Panopticon closed down; it reopened shortly afterwards with the addition of a circus ring, but still proved to be uneconomical and quickly closed again. Renamed the Alhambra, it reopened as a theatre and music-hall in which form it endured until the 20th century.
In 1854, the Great Globe was enough in the public eye to inspire an entertainment by James Robinson Planché at the Haymarket: Mr Buckstone's Voyage Round the Globe, but by 1862, there was little question of it continuing to operate even if the Tulks had not been keen to exercise their option to buy. In 1861 in The Adventures of Philip, Thackeray noted that he had heard that the Globe was "coming to an end". The agreement with the Tulks expired in April 1862, and in the same month, Henry Webb threatened legal action because of Wyld's failure to remove the building and restore the gardens. Wyld was somewhat hamstrung as he had sold the building to William Wilde, the proprietor of the Alhambra, but Wilde had failed to pay and it took two court cases before Wyld regained possession in August. He immediately sold it to a contractor for demolition. In October the building was torn down and the globe itself broken up and sold for scrap. By November the site was completely cleared.
Read more about this topic: Wyld's Great Globe