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.

2025: Londonist's post What's Left From the 1851 Great Exhibition? provides many answers, including the fact that the V&A holds 3,595 items, the museum having been created partly for that very purpose.

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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

Charles Fowler

Charles Fowler

Architect. Born in Cullompton, Devon. Noted for his designs of market buildings, especially Covent Garden. He also designed the conservatory at Syon House, as well as several churches and hospitals...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Alan Brace

Alan Brace

Architect active 1927 and 1937. An Alan Brace was the architect for Rio Tinto Company Limited and carried out work for them in south west Spain, though if this was in the late 1800s, then he was ei...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Chris Roche
1 memorial
Bridge of Aspiration

Bridge of Aspiration

A high level link between the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet School. Designed by Flint & Neill and Buro Happold with Wilkinson Eyre.

Building, Architecture, Transport

1 memorial
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

Previously viewed

Ninian Donald

Ninian Donald

E2, Whiston Road

Ninian Donald, 1974 - 2007

2 subjects commemorated
Wheatsheaf pub

Wheatsheaf pub

Public house popular with London's Bohemian set in the 1930s, as were all the pubs in Fitzrovia, and beyond. Customers including George Orwell, Dylan Thomas, Edwin Muir and Humphrey Jennings were k...

Building, Commerce, Food & Drink

2 memorials
Trenwith Wills

Trenwith Wills

Trenwith Lovering Wills was born on 14 February 1891 in Oxton, Birkenhead, Cheshire, the elder son of John Trenwith Wills (1844-1915) and Florence Elizabeth Wills née Lovering (1852-1926). The 1891...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial