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.

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

Sir Herbert Baker

Sir Herbert Baker

Architect. Born and brought up in Kent, trained as an architect in London. 1892 went to South Africa where he gained many important commissions. During a brief return to Britain in 1904 he married....

Person, Architecture

3 memorials
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin

Born Bloomsbury. A treasured only child he had minimal education, never learning to spell. Indoctrinated by his father into the architecture of the Middle Ages, he became a religious fanatic who dr...

Person, Architecture

2 memorials
John Murray Easton

John Murray Easton

Architect. Born in Edinburgh. Amongst his designs were: Aberconway House, Mayfair (1922), the Royal Horticultural Society's Lawrence Hall (1928); the British Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in Ne...

Person, Architecture, Scotland, USA

1 memorial
Sir Arthur Blomfield

Sir Arthur Blomfield

Architect, born Arthur Wiliam Blomfield, at Fulham Palace, the son of the Bishop of London. Specialised in church architecture, e.g. St Mary's Parish Hall, Crawford Street. Also designed the Royal ...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Guy Nicholls

Guy Nicholls

Architect active in 1950. Possibly the borough surveyor for St Marylebone but we cannot confirm that.

Person, Architecture

1 memorial