The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park to house
the Great Exhibition of 1851. Following the success of the exhibition, the palace was moved and
reconstructed in 1854 in a modified and enlarged form in the grounds of the Penge Place estate
atSydenham Hill. The buildings housed the Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and Literature and
Crystal Palace School of Engineering. It attracted visitors for over seven decades.[5]

Sydenham Hill is one of the highest locations in London; 109 metres (357 ft) above sea level (spot
height on Ordnance Survey Map); and the size of the palace and prominence of the site made it easy
to identify from much of London. This led to the residential area around the building becoming known
as Crystal Palace instead of Sydenham Hill. The palace was destroyed by fire on 30 November 1936
and the site of the building and its grounds is now known as Crystal Palace Park

The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and plate-glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London,
England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world
gathered in the Palace's 990,000 square feet (92,000 m2) of exhibition space to display examples of
the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, the
Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet
(39 m).[1] Because of the recent invention of the cast plate glass method in 1848, which allowed for
large sheets of cheap but strong glass, it was at the time the largest amount of glass ever seen in a
building and astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights, thus
a "Crystal Palace".

After the exhibition, the building was rebuilt in an enlarged form on Penge Common next
to Sydenham Hill, an affluent South London suburb full of large villas. It stood there from 1854 until its
destruction by fire in 1936.

The name Crystal Palace came from the playwright Douglas Jerrold. On 13 July 1850 he wrote in the
satirical magazine Punch as 'Mrs Amelia Mouser' about the forthcoming Great Exhibition of 1851,
referring to a palace of very crystal, a name that was subsequently picked up and repeated even
though the building had not been approved at that stage.[2]
The name was later used to denote this area of south London and the park that surrounds the site,
home of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. A re-working of the building, known as The
Garden Palace, was constructed in Sydney in 1879, but this building too was destroyed by fire. There
are proposals, although in early stages, to re-build the Crystal Palace within the Crystal Palace
Park.[3]

conception

The transept façade of the original Crystal Palace

The huge, modular, wood,[4] glass and iron structure was originally erected in Hyde Park in London to
house The Great Exhibition of 1851, which showcased the products of many countries throughout the
world.[5]

The Commission in charge of mounting the Great Exhibition was established in January 1850, and it
was decided at the outset that the entire project would be funded by public subscription. An executive
Building Committee was quickly formed to oversee the design and construction of the exhibition
building, comprising Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Robert Stephenson, renowned architects Charles
Barry andThomas Leverton Donaldson, the Duke of Buccleuch and the Earl of Ellesmere, and chaired
by William Cubitt. By 15 March 1850 they were ready to invite submissions, which had to conform to
several key specifications: the building had to be temporary, simple, as cheap as possible, and
economical to build within the short time remaining before the Exhibition opening, which had already
been scheduled for 1 May 1851.[6]

Within three weeks, the committee had received some 245 entries, including 38 international
submissions from Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hanover, Switzerland, Brunswick, Hamburg
and France. Two designs, both in iron and glass, were singled out for praise - one by Richard Turner,
co-designer of the Palm House at Kew, and the other by French architect Hector Horeau[7] but despite
the great number of submissions, the Committee rejected them all. Turner was furious at the
rejection, and reportedly badgered the commissioners for months afterwards, seeking compensation,
but at an estimated £300,000, his design (like Horeau's) was too expensive. [8] As a last resort the
committee came up with a standby design of its own, for a brick building in the rundbogenstil by
Donaldson, featuring a sheet-iron dome designed by Brunel[9] but it was widely criticized and ridiculed
when it was published in the newspapers.[10] Adding to the Committee's woes, the site for the
Exhibition was still not confirmed; the preferred site was inHyde Park, adjacent to Princes Gate near
Kensington Rd, but other sites considered included Wormwood Scrubs, Battersea Park, the Isle of
Dogs, Victoria Park and Regent's Park. Opponents of the scheme lobbied strenuously against the use
of Hyde Park (and they were strongly supported by The Times). The most outspoken critic was arch-
conservative Col. Charles de Laet Waldo Sibthorp; he denounced the Exhibition as "one of the
greatest humbugs, frauds and absurdities ever known", [6] and his trenchant opposition to both the
Exhibition and its building continued even after it had closed.

Joseph Paxton's first sketch for the Great Exhibition Building, about 1850, pen and ink on blotting paper, V&A Museum.

At this point renowned gardener Joseph Paxton became interested in the project, and with the
enthusiastic backing of Commission member Henry Cole, he decided to submit his own design. At
this time, Paxton was chiefly known for his celebrated career as the head gardener for the 6th Duke of
Devonshire at Chatsworth House; by 1850 he had become a preeminent figure in British horticulture
and had also earned great renown as a freelance garden designer - his works included the pioneering
public gardens at Birkenhead Park which directly influenced design of New York's Central Park. At
Chatsworth, Paxton had experimented extensively with glasshouse construction, developing many
novel techniques for modular construction, using combinations of standard-sized sheets of
glass, laminated wood, and prefabricated cast iron. The "Great Stove" (or conservatory) at
Chatsworth (built in 1836) was the first major application of Paxton's now-famous ridge-and-furrow
roof design, and was at the time the largest glass building in the world, [11]covering around 28,000
square feet (2600 sq.m.).[12] A decade later, taking advantage of the availability of the new cast plate
glass, Paxton further developed his techniques with the Chatsworth Lily House, which featured a flat-
roof version of the ridge-and-furrow glazing, and a curtain wall system that allowed the hanging of
vertical bays of glass from cantilevered beams.[13] The Lily House was built specifically to house the
giant Victoria amazonica waterlily which had only recently been discovered by European botanists;
the first specimen to reach England was originally kept at Kew Gardens, but it did not do well.
Paxton's reputation as a gardener was so high by that time that he was invited to take the lily to
Chatsworth; it thrived under his care and in 1849 he caused a sensation in the horticultural world
when he succeeded in producing the first amazonica flowers to be grown in England (his daughter
Alice was famously drawn for the newspapers, standing on one of leaves). The lily and its house led
directly to Paxton's design for the Crystal Palace and he later cited the huge ribbed floating leaves as
a key inspiration.[14]

Paxton left his 9 June 1850 meeting with Henry Cole fired with enthusiasm. He immediately went to
Hyde Park, where he 'walked' the site earmarked for the Exhibition. Two days later, on 11 June, while
attending a board meeting of the Midland Railway, Paxton made his original concept drawing, which
he famously doodled onto a sheet of pink blotting paper. This rough sketch (now in the Victoria &
Albert Museum) incorporated all the basic features of the finished building, and it is a mark of Paxton's
ingenuity and industriousness that detailed plans, calculations and costings were ready to submit in
less than two weeks.

The project was a major gamble for Paxton, but circumstances were in his favour - he enjoyed a
stellar reputation as a garden designer and builder, he was confident that his design was perfectly
suited to the brief, and the Commission was now under enormous pressure to choose a design and
get it built - the Exhibition opening was now less than a year away. In the event, Paxton's design
fulfilled and surpassed all the requirements, and it proved to be vastly faster and cheaper to build than
any other form of building of a comparable size. Indeed, his submission was budgeted at a
remarkably low £85,800 - by comparison, this was only about 2-1/2 times more than the Great Stove
at Chatsworth[15] but it was only 28% of the estimated cost of Turner's design, and it promised a
building which, with a footprint of over 770,000 sq.ft. (19 acres, or 7 hectares), would cover roughly
twenty-five times the ground area of its progenitor.

Impressed by the low bid for the construction contract submitted by the engineering firm Fox,
Henderson, the commission accepted the scheme and finally gave its public endorsement to Paxton's
design in July 1850. He was exultant, but now had less than eight months to finalize his plans,
manufacture the parts and erect the building in time for the Exhibition's opening, which was scheduled
for 1 May 1851. Paxton was able to design and build the largest glass structure yet created, from
scratch, in less than a year, and complete it on schedule and on budget. He was even able to alter the
design shortly before building began, adding a high, barrel-vaulted transept across the centre of the
building, at 90 degrees to the main gallery, under which he was able to safely enclose several large
elm trees that would otherwise have had to be felled - thereby also resolving a controversial issue that
had been a major sticking point for the vocal anti-Exhibition lobby.

Design
 Partial front (left) and rear (right) elevations of the Crystal Palace.

Paxton's modular, hierarchical design reflected his practical brilliance as a designer and problem-
solver. It incorporated many breakthroughs, offered practical advantages that no conventional building
could match and, above all, embodied the spirit of British innovation and industrial might that the
Great Exhibition was intended to celebrate.

The geometry of the Crystal Palace was a classic example of the concept of form following function -
the shape and size of the whole building was directly based around the size of the panes of glass
made by the supplier, Chance Brothers of Birmingham. These were the largest available at the time,
measuring 10 inches wide by 49 inches long. Because the entire building was scaled around those
dimensions, it meant that nearly the whole outer surface could be glazed using millions of identical
panes, thereby drastically reducing both their production cost and the time needed to install them.

The original Hyde Park building was essentially a vast, flat-roofed rectangular hall. A huge open
gallery ran along the main axis, with wings extending down either side. The main exhibition space
was two stories high, with the upper floor stepped in from the boundary. Most of the building had a
flat-profile roof, except for the central transept, which was covered by a barrel-vaulted roof that stood
100 feet high at the top of the arch. Both the flat-profile sections and the arched transept roof were
constructed using the key element of Paxton's design - his patented ridge-and-furrow roofing system,
which had first use at Chatsworth. The basic roofing unit, in essence, took the form of a long
triangular prism, which made it both extremely light and very strong, and meant it could be built with
the minimum amount of materials.

Paxton set the dimensions of this prism by using the length of single pane of glass (49 inches) as
the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle, thereby creating a triangle with a length-to-height ratio of
2.5:1, whose base (adjacent side) was 4 feet long. By mirroring this triangle he obtained the 8-foot-
wide gables that formed the vertical faces at either end of the prism, each of which was 24' long. With
ssthis arrangement, Paxton could glaze the entire roof surface with identical panes that did not need
to be trimmed. Paxton placed three of these 8' x 24' roof units side-by-side, horizontally supported by
a grid of cast iron beams, which was held up on slim cast iron pillars. The resulting cube, with a floor
area of 24'x 24', formed the basic structural module of the building.

By multiplying these modules into a grid, the structure could be extended virtually infinitely. In its
original form, the ground level of the Crystal Palace (in plan) measured 1848' x 456', which equates to
a grid 77 modules long by 19 modules wide.[16] Because each module was self-supporting, Paxton
was able to leave out modules in some areas, creating larger square or rectangular spaces within the
building to accommodate larger exhibits. On the lower level these larger spaces were covered by the
floor above, and on the upper level by longer spans of roofing, but the dimensions of these larger
spaces were always multiples of the basic 24' x 24' grid unit. The modules were also strong enough to
be stacked vertically, enabling Paxton to add an upper floor that nearly doubled the amount of
available exhibition space. Paxton also used longer trellis girders to create a clear span for the roof of
the immense central gallery, which was 72 feet wide and 1800 feet long.

plan of the Crystal Palace

Paxton's roofing system incorporated his elegant solution to the problem of draining the building's vast
roof area. Like the Chatsworth Lily House (but unlike its later incarnation at Sydnenham) most of the
roof of the original Hyde Park structure had a horizontal profile, so heavy rain posed a potentially
serious safety hazard. Because normal cast glass is brittle and has low tensile strength, there was a
risk that the weight of any excess water build-up on the roof might have caused panes to shatter,
showering shards of glass onto the patrons, ruining the valuable exhibits beneath, and weakening the
structure. However, Paxton's ridge-and-furrow roof was designed to shed water very efficiently. Rain
ran off the angled glass roof panes into U-shaped cast-iron channels which ran the length of each roof
section at the bottom of the 'furrow'. These channels were ingeniously multifunctional - during
construction, they served as the rails that supported and guided the trolleys on which the glaziers sat
as they installed the roofing. Once completed, the channels acted both as the joists that supported the
roof sections, and as guttering - a patented design now widely known as a "Paxton gutter". These
gutters conducted the rainwater to the ends of each furrow, where they emptied into the larger main
gutters, which were set at right angles to the smaller gutters, along the top of the main horizontal roof
bearers. These main gutters drained at either end into the cast iron pillars, which also had an
ingenious dual function - each was cast with a hollow core, allowing it to double as a concealed down-
pipe that carried the storm-water down into the drains beneath the building.
One of the few issues Paxton could not completely solve was leaks - when completed, rain was found
to be leaking into the huge building in over a thousand places. The leaks were sealed with putty, but
the relatively poor quality of the sealant materials available at the time meant that the problem was
never totally overcome.

Maintaining a comfortable temperature inside such a large glass building was another major
challenge, because the Great Exhibition took place decades before the introduction of mains
electricity and air-conditioning. Glasshouses rely on the fact that they accumulate and retain heat from
the sun, but such heat buildup would have been a major problem for the Exhibition, and this would
have been be exacerbated by the heat produced by the thousands of people who would be in the
building at any given time. Paxton solved this with two clever strategies. One was to install external
canvas shade-cloths that were stretched across the roof ridges. These served multiple functions -
they reduced heat transmission, moderated and softened the light coming into the building, and acted
as a primitive evaporative cooling system when water was sprayed onto them. The other part of the
solution was Paxton's ingenious ventilation system. Each of the modules that formed the outer walls
of the building was fitted with a prefabricated set of louvres that could be opened and closed using a
gear mechanism, allowing hot stale air to escape. The flooring consisted of boards 22 cm (9 inches)
wide, which were spaced about 1 cm apart; together with the louvres, this formed an effective passive
air-conditioning system. Due to the pressure differential, the hot air escaping from the louvres
generated a constant airflow that drew cooler air up through the gaps in the floor. The floor too had a
dual function - the gaps between the boards acted as a grating that allowed dust and small pieces of
refuse to fall or be swept through them onto the ground beneath, where it was collected daily by a
team of cleaning boys. Paxton also designed machines to sweep the floors at the end of each day,
but in practice, it was found that the trailing skirts of the female visitors did the job perfectly. [17]

Thanks to the considerable economies of scale Paxton was able to exploit, the manufacture and
assembly of the building parts was exceedingly quick and cheap. Each module was identical, fully
prefabricated, self-supporting, and fast and easy to erect. All of the parts could be mass-produced in
large numbers, and many parts served multiple functions, further reducing both the number of parts
needed and their overall cost. Because of its comparatively low weight, the Crystal Palace required
absolutely no heavy masonry for supporting walls or foundations, and the relatively light concrete
footings on which it stood could be left in the ground once the building was removed (they remain in
place today just beneath the surface of the site). The modules could be erected as quickly as the
parts could reach the site - indeed, some sections were standing within eighteen hours of leaving the
factory - and since each unit was self-supporting, workers were able to assemble much of the building
section-by-section, without having to wait for other parts to be finished

Construction
Interior of the Crystal Palace.
Fox, Henderson took possession of the site in July 1850 and erected wooden hoardings which, with
typical Victorian efficiency, were constructed using the timber that later became the floorboards of the
finished building. More than 5000 navvies worked on building during its construction, with up to 2000
on site at one time during the peak building phase. More than 1,000 iron columns supported 2,224
trellis girders and 30 miles of guttering, comprising 4,000 tonnes of iron in all. [17]

First, stakes were driven into the ground to roughly mark out the positions for the cast iron columns;
these points were then set precisely by theodolitemeasurements. Then the concrete foundations were
poured, and the base plates for the columns were set into them. Once the foundations were in place,
the erection of the modules proceeded rapidly. Connector brackets were attached to the top of each
column before erection, and these were then hoisted into position. Since the project took place before
the development of powered cranes, the raising of the columns was done manually usingsheers (or
shear-legs), a simple crane mechanism. These consisted of two strong poles, which were set several
metres apart at the base and then lashed together at the top to form a triangle; this was stabilized and
kept vertical by guy ropes fixed to the apex, stretched taut and tied to stakes driven into the ground
some distance away. Using pulleys and ropes hung from the apex of the sheer, the navvies hoisted
the columns, girders and other parts into place.

As soon as two adjacent columns had been erected, a girder was hoisted into place between them
and bolted onto the connectors. The columns were erected in opposite pairs, then two more girders
were connected to form a self-supporting square - this was the basic frame of each module. The
sheers would then be moved along and an adjoining bay constructed. When a reasonable number of
bays had been completed, the columns for the upper floor were erected (longer shear-legs were used
for this, but the operation was essentially the same as for the ground floor). Once the ground floor
structure was complete, the final assembly of the upper floor followed rapidly.

For the glazing, Paxton used larger versions of machines he had originally devised for the Great
Stove at Chatsworth, installing on-site production line systems, powered by steam engines, that
dressed and finished the building parts. These included a machine that mechanically grooved the
wooden window sash bars, and a painting machine that automatically dipped the parts in paint and
then passed them through a series of rotating brushes to remove the excess.

A tree enclosed within the Crystal Palace.

The last major components to be put into place were the sixteen semi-circular ribs of the vaulted
transept, which were also the only major structural parts that were made of wood. These were raised
into position as eight pairs, and all were fixed into place within a week. Thanks to the simplicity of
Paxton's design and the combined efficiency of the building contractor and their suppliers, the entire
structure was assembled with extraordinary speed - the team of 80 glaziers could fix more than
18,000 panes of sheet glass in a week[17] - and the building was complete and ready to receive
exhibits in just five months.[10]

When completed, The Crystal Palace provided an unrivaled space for exhibits, since it was essentially
a self-supporting shell standing on slim iron columns, with no internal structural walls whatsoever.
Because it was covered almost entirely in glass, it also needed no artificial lighting during the day,
thereby reducing the Exhibition's running costs.

The Crystal Palace was built by about 5,000 navvies (up to 2,000 on site at once).[18]

Full-size elm trees growing in the park were enclosed within the central exhibition hall near the 27-foot
(8 m) tall Crystal Fountain. Sparrows became a nuisance; shooting was obviously out of the question
in a glass building. Queen Victoria mentioned this problem to the Duke of Wellington, who offered the
famous solution, "Sparrowhawks, Ma'am".

Paxton was acclaimed worldwide for his achievement, and was knighted by Queen Victoria in
recognition of his work. The project was engineered by Sir William Cubitt; Paxton's construction
partner was the ironwork contractor Sir Charles Fox's Fox and Henderson, whose director Charles
Fox was also knighted for his contribution. The 900,000 square feet (84,000 m²) of glass was
provided by the Chance Brothers glassworks in Smethwick, Birmingham. They were the only
glassworks capable of fulfilling such a large order and had to bring in labour from France to meet it in
time.The final dimensions were 1,848 feet (563 m) long by 456 feet (139 m) wide. The building was
135 feet (41 m) high, with 772,784 square feet (71,794.0 m2) on the ground floor alone.[19]

The Great Exhibition of 1851

Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, in 1851.

The Great Exhibition was opened on 1 May 1851 by Queen Victoria. It was the first of the World's
Fair exhibitions of culture and industry. There were some 100,000 objects, displayed along more than
ten miles, by over 15,000 contributors.[20] Britain occupied half the display space inside with exhibits
from the home country and the Empire. France was the largest foreign contributor. The exhibits were
grouped into four main categories - Raw Materials, Machinery, Manufacturers and Fine Arts. The
exhibits ranged from the Koh-i-Noor diamond, Sevres porcelain and music organs to a massive
hydraulic press and a fire-engine. There was also a 27-foot tall Crystal Fountain.

At first the price of admission was £3 for gentlemen, £2 for ladies, later the masses were let in for only
a shilling a head. Six million people—equivalent to a third of the entire population of Britain at the
time—visited the Great Exhibition. The event made a surplus of £186,000 (£17,240,000 as of
2013),[21][20] money which was used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science
Museum and the Natural History Museum in South Kensington.

The Crystal Palace had the first major installation of public toilets,[22] the Retiring Rooms, in
which sanitary engineer George Jennings installed his"Monkey Closet" flushing lavatory[23] (initially
just for men, but later catering for women also).[24] During the exhibition, 827,280 visitors each paid
one penny to use them (from which originated the euphemism "spending a penny").[25][26]

The Great Exhibition closed on 11 October 1851.

Relocation and redesign

The life of the Great Exhibition was limited to six months, after which something had to be done with
the building.[27] Against the wishes ofParliamentary opponents, a consortium of eight businessmen
including Samuel Laing and Leo Schuster (both board members of the London, Brighton and South
Coast Railway (LB&SCR)), formed a suitable holding company and proposed that the edifice be
erected on a property named Penge Place that had been excised from Penge Common atop
Sydenham Hill.[5]

The constructing of the building began on Sydenham Hill in 1852. The new building, while
incorporating most of the constructional parts of the Hyde Park building, was so completely different in
form as to be properly considered a quite different structure – a 'Beaux-arts' form in glass and metal.
The main gallery was redesigned and covered with a new barrel-vaulted roof, the central transept was
greatly enlarged and made even higher, and two new transepts were added at either end of the main
gallery. It was modified and enlarged so much that it extended beyond the boundary of Penge Place,
which was also the boundary between Surreyand Kent. The reconstruction was recorded for posterity
by Philip Henry Delamotte, and his photographs were widely disseminated in his published works.

Within two years, in 1854, Queen Victoria again performed an opening ceremony.

Several localities claim to be the area to which the building was moved. The street address of the
Crystal Palace was Sydenham S.E. (SE26 after 1917), but the actual building and parklands were in
Penge. When built, most of the buildings were in the borough of Croydon, as were the majority of
grounds, but in 1899 the county boundary was moved, transferring the entire site toPenge Urban
District in Kent. The site is now within the Crystal Palace Ward of the London Borough of Bromley.

Two railway stations were opened to serve the permanent exhibition:

 Crystal Palace High Level: developed by the SER, it was an impressive building designed
by Edward Barry, from which a subway under the Parade led directly to the entrance
 Crystal Palace Low Level: developed by laing and Schuster's LB&SCR, it is located just off
Anerley Road.
The Low Level Station is still in use as Crystal Palace, while the only remains of the High Level
Station are the subway under the Parade with its Italianmosaic roofing, a Grade II listed building.
The South Gate is served by Penge West Railway Station. For some time this station was on
an atmospheric railway. This is often confused with a 550-metre pneumatic passenger railway which
was exhibited at the Crystal Palace in 1864, which was known as the Crystal Palace pneumatic
railway.

Exhibitions and notable events

Dozens of experts such as Matthew Digby Wyatt and Owen Jones were hired to created a series of
courts that provided a narrative of the history of fine art. Amongst these were Augustus Pugin's
Mediaeval Court from the Great Exhibition, as well as courts illustrating Egyptian, Alhambra, Roman,
Renaissance, Chinese, Pompeian, and Grecian art and many others.[28] In the central transept was
the 4,000-piece Grand Orchestra built around the 4,500-pipe Great Organ. There was a concert room
with over 4,000 seats that hosted successful Handel Festivals for many years.[29] In the performance
spaces hosted concerts, exhibits, and public entertainment.[5] The Centre Transept of the Crystal
Palace also once housed a circus and was the scene of daring feats by world famous acts such as
the tightrope walker Charles Blondin.

In 1868, the world's first aeronautical exhibition in 1868 was held in the Crystal Palace. In 1871, the
world's first cat show, organised by Harrison Weir, was held there. Other shows, such as dog shows,
pigeon shows, honey, flowers shows, as well as the first national motor show was also held at Crystal
Palace.[30] The new site was also the location of one of Charles Spurgeon's famous sermons, without
amplification, before a crowd of 23,654 people on 7 October 1857.[31]

A colourful description of a visit to the Crystal Palace appears in John Davidson's poem 'The Crystal
Palace' published in 1909.

Robert Baden-Powell first noticed the interest of girls in Scouting while attending a Boy Scout meeting
at Crystal Palace in 1909. This observation later led to the formation of Girl Guides, then Girl
Scouts.[32][33]
In 1911, the Festival of Empire was held at the building to mark the coronation of George
V and Queen Mary.

During the First World War, it was used as a naval training establishment under the name of
HMS Victory VI, informally known as HMS Crystal Palace. More than 125,000 men from the Royal
Naval Division, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Royal Naval Air Service were trained for war
at Victory VI.[34]

After the First War World War, it was re-opened as the first Imperial War Museum (which moved four
years later to South Kensington).[35]

On 15–20 October 1934 the Pageant of Labour was held at the Crystal Palace.[36]

Crystal Palace Park[edit source | editbeta]

Main article: Crystal Palace Park

The development of ground and gardens of the park cost considerably more than the rebuilt Crystal
Palace. Edward Milner designed the Italian Garden and fountains, the Great Maze, and the English
Landscape Garden. Raffaele Monti was hired to design and build much of the external statuary
around the fountain basins, and the urns, tazzas and vases.[28] The sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse
Hawkins was commissioned to make 33 lifesized models of the (then) newly-discovered dinosaurs
and other extinct animals in the park. The Palace and its park became the location of many shows,
concerts and exhibitions, as well as sporting events after the construction of various sports grounds
on the site. On the new site were also various buildings that housed educational establishments such
as the Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and Literature as well as engineering schools.

Joseph Paxton was first and foremost a gardener, and his layout of
gardens, fountains, terraces and cascades left no doubt as to his ability. One thing he did have a
problem with was water supply. Such was his enthusiasm that thousands of gallons of water were
needed to feed the myriad fountains and cascades abounding in the Crystal Palace Park: the two
main jets were 250 feet (76 m) high. Water towers were duly constructed, but the weight of water in
the raised tanks caused them to collapse. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was consulted and came up with
plans for two mighty water towers, one at the north end of the building and one at the south. Each
supported a tremendous load of water, which was gathered from three reservoirs, at either end of and
in the middle of the park.

The grand fountains and cascades were opened, again in the presence of the Queen, who got wet
when a gust of wind swept mists of spray over the Royal carriage.
The Crystal Palace with one of the water towers as seen from Anerley around 1910

Decline[edit source | editbeta]

While the original palace cost £150,000 (£13.9 million as of 2013),[21] the move to Sydenham cost
£1,300,000—(£111 million as of 2013),[21] burdening the company with a debt it never repaid,[37] partly
because admission fees were depressed by the inability to cater for Sunday visitors: many people
worked every day except the Sabbath,[38] when the Palace had always been closed.[39] The Lord's Day
Observance Society held that people should not be encouraged to work at the Palace or drive on
Sunday, and that if people wanted to visit, then their employers should give them time off during the
working week. However, the Palace was open on Sundays by May 1861, when 40,000 visitors
came.[40]

By the 1890s the Palace's popularity and state of repair had deteriorated; the appearance of stalls
and booths had made it a more downmarket attraction.[35]

In the years after the Festival of Empire the building fell into disrepair, as the huge debt
and maintenance costs became unsustainable, and in 1911 bankruptcy was declared. [41] In 1913
the Earl of Plymouth bought it, to save it from developers. A public subscription subsequently bought
it from the Earl for the nation.

In the 1920s, a board of trustees was set up under the guidance of manager Sir Henry Buckland. He
is said to have been a firm but fair man, who had a great love for the Crystal Palace, [42] and soon set
about restoring the deteriorating building. The restoration not only brought visitors back, but also
meant that the Palace started to make a small profit once more.[34] Buckland and his staff also worked
on improving the fountains and gardens,[43] including the Thursday evening displays
of fireworks by Brocks.
Destruction by fire

Crystal Palace on fire

On 30 November 1936 came the final catastrophe – fire. Within hours the Palace was destroyed: the
glow was visible across eight counties.[44] That night, Buckland was walking his dog near the palace,
with his daughter (Crystal Buckland, named after the palace[44]) when they noticed a red glow within.
Inside, he found two of his employees fighting a small office fire,[45] that had started after an
explosion[46] in the women's cloakroom.[44]Realising that it was a serious fire, they called the Penge
fire brigade. But, even though 89 fire engines and over 400 firemen[47] arrived they were unable to
extinguish it. (The fire spread quickly in the high winds that night,[48] because it could consume the dry
old timber flooring,[49] and the huge quantity of flammable materials in the building.) Buckland said, "In
a few hours we have seen the end of the Crystal Palace. Yet it will live in the memories not only of
Englishmen, but the whole world". 100,000 people came to Sydenham Hill to watch the blaze, among
them Winston Churchill, who said, "This is the end of an age".[50]

Just as in 1866, when the north transept burnt down, the building was not adequately insured to cover
the cost of rebuilding (at least two million pounds).[48]

The South Tower had been used for tests by television pioneer John Logie Baird for his mechanical
television experiments, and much of his work was destroyed in the fire. [51][52]

The last singer to perform there before the fire was the Australian ballad contralto Essie Ackland.[53]

Activity since the fire[edit source | editbeta]

Crystal Palace a few days after the night of the 30 November 1936; totally destroyed

All that was left standing after the 1936 fire were the two water towers. In a November 2011 interview
with the Crystal Palace Museum the true story of the towers was revealed. [54] The south tower to the
right of the Crystal Palace entrance was taken down shortly after the fire, as the damage sustained
had undermined its integrity and it presented a major risk to houses nearby.
The north tower was demolished with explosives in 1941.[55][56] No reason was given for its removal,
although it was rumoured that it was to remove a landmark for WWII German aircraft,
but Luftwaffe bombers actually navigated their way to Central London by tracking the River Thames.
The Crystal Palace grounds were also used as a manufacturing base for aircraft radar screens and
other hi-tech equipment of the time. This remained secret until well after the war.

With the Palace's destruction, the High Level Branch station fell into disuse, and was finally shut in
1954.

After the war the site was used for a number of purposes. Between 1953 and 1973 an auto
racing circuit operated there, supported by the Greater London Council, but the noise was
unpopular with nearby residents and racing hours were soon regulated under a high court
judgment.[42]

Future[edit source | editbeta]

Over the years, numerous proposals for the former site of the palace have not come to fruition.
Currently there are several plans.

 Plans by the London Development Agency to spend £67.5 million to refurbish the site, including
new homes and a regional sports centre were approved after Public Inquiry in December 2010.
Before approval was announced the LDA withdrew from taking on management of the park and
funding the project.
 A private consortium announced plans to rebuild the Crystal Palace and its use to house
galleries, a snow slope, a music auditorium, leisure facilities and a hotel. [57]
 On 20 January 2011, Crystal Palace Football Club announced plans to move to the site. Initial
proposals include a 40,000 capacity stadium on the site of the athletics stadium and a new
athletics track north of the National Sports Centre.
 On 27 July 2013, BBC News reported that the Chinese company ZhongRong Holdings is in early
talks with the London Borough of Bromley and Mayor of London Boris Johnson to rebuild the
Crystal Palace in the north side of the park with some redevelopment.[3]