Building    From 1854  To 30/11/1936

Crystal Palace

Originally erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was on the section south of Rotten Row and east of West Carriage Drive with the mid-point opposite Rutland Gate. The cast-iron and glass building was then taken down and reconstructed, modified and enlarged, in 1854 at Sydenham Hill in what was then known as Penge Park. The area around then became known as Crystal Palace. In 1936 the Palace burnt down and was not rebuilt. What remains are the terraces, the steps and some sphinxes. The BBC reported that the UK's first fatal car accident happened at "Dolphin Terrace" at the Crystal Palace in 1896 but we can't discover exactly where that was.

The distinctive curved roof above the central transept, running north-south, was added to the design of the building to enable several elm trees in Hyde Park to be retained within the building rather than felled. The trees are not there now and were presumably lost to Dutch Elm disease some time 1970-90. (But London does still have elm trees - see the Londonist article and this pdf with map.)

Some good pictures and quotes at: The Library Time Machine.

Caroline's Miscellany on the model of Crystal Palace - in Paris.

Chapter IX of Dorothy Richardson's 1915 'Pilgrimage Volume 1, Backwater' describes a summer evening visit to Crystal Palace with fireworks, a calendar-clock, a winter garden, a concert room, etc.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Crystal Palace

Commemorated ati

Crystal Palace fatal accident

{Around an illustration of the Crystal Palace:} The grave beneath this yew tr...

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Crystal Palace workmen's grave

Twelve workmen were killed, but we are unable to find out where the other two...

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HMS Crystal Palace

This trophy was originally placed on the old quarter-deck (presumably constru...

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Sir Joseph Paxton - giant bust

The Carrera marble bust is 8ft high.

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Other Subjects

The Polygon

The Polygon

Polygon Road was the site of The Polygon - a fifteen sided building of 32 houses situated around a garden. William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft lived at No 29 for a time and their daughter, later...

Place, Architecture

1 memorial
Robert Hooke

Robert Hooke

Natural philosopher (or scientist, in today's terminology) and architect. Born Isle of Wight. Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society, Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, Surveyor to the ...

Person, Architecture, Science

1 memorial
Stephen Geary

Stephen Geary

Architect.  He designed the Egyptian Avenue and the Terrace Catacombs in Highgate Cemetery.

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
T. A. Greeves

T. A. Greeves

Architect and artist. Born Thomas Affleck Greeves. Studied at the Cambridge School of Architecture, but never actually designed any functional buildings. Instead he produced a series of fantastical...

Person, Architecture, Art

1 memorial
Maurice Adams

Maurice Adams

Architect. Born Maurice Bingham Adams. He was instrumental in the founding of Bedford Park in West London, where he designed many of the houses and parts of St Michael & All Angels Church. In 1...

Person, Architecture

5 memorials