Designer: P.T. Selbit
PT Selbit: Magical Innovator records that Selbit designed Walking Through a Wall in 1914 and first presented it for theatrical agents on June 2nd of that year. The first public performance was June 15th.
A genuine wall of bricks about 10 inches thick was built on a steel base mounted 2 inches high on casters. A committee was brought on stage and a large sheet of thick, woven cloth was unrolled across the stage to prove there were no traps used. The wall was then rolled onto the center of the cloth and the committee was invited to inspect it, some members being given hammers to test its solidity. An assistant dressed as a "Gibson Girl" (smartly dressed with a purse and large hat) was then introduced. She stood next to the wall and the committee stood around the edges of the cloth, surrounding the illusion. Other assistants erected a three-fold screen around the girl and another on the opposite side of the wall. The first screen was then removed and folded flat to show the girl had walked through the wall. The opposite screen was removed revealing the assistant.
Selbit later fooled even magicians by using a sheet of iron underneath the illusion.
Sidney Josolyne (another London magician) presented a similar illusion, but used a large steel plate instead of a brick wall. He sold plans and "rights" to Houdini who included it in his own performances at Hammerstein's Roof Garden in New York. Josolyne published Weird Wonders for Wizards and included a fully-illustrated description of the illusion using a brick wall. It was also exposed later in Popular Mechanics magazine.