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

Kingston Lodge

Kingston Lodge

Home to George Meredith, 1864-7. In response to our search Google presented this image but does not provide full access to the apparent source, "Selected Letters of George Meredith", so we cannot ...

Building, Architecture

1 memorial
Newcastle House

Newcastle House

From the Picture Source website: In 1790, James Farrer bought the southern half of the fine building which we now occupy at 66 Lincoln's Inn Fields. This was originally the home of Lord Powys, whic...

Building, Architecture

1 memorial
Philip Tilden

Philip Tilden

Architect. In the Wikipedia list of his works none are in London.

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Edwin Clare

Edwin Clare

Architect active in 1871. Probably the same Edwin Clare who worked on St. Silas' Penton Street and St Andrew's Croydon, both while based at 104 Guildford Street, and St Saviour's Forest Gate.

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
John Belcher

John Belcher

Belcher was born at 3 Montague Terrace (now 8 Brockham Street, SE1). His father, also John, was an architect and Jnr. was made a partner in 1845. The firm was known as J. & J. Belcher. Snr. ret...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial