The Crystal Palace

Built in Hyde Park in 1851 to house the very first International Exhibition. The building was four times as long as St. Paul's Cathedral with a dome 200 feet wide and 150 feet high. After six months the building's, designer Sir Joseph Paxton wanted it to be a permanent feature, and raised the money for it to be dismantled and re-erected at Sydenham at the top of Anerley Hill. It reopened in 1854, it was three times larger and was surrounded by 200 acres of grounds, with an extensive variety of plants, trees, fountains and statues. There were 14,000 exhibitors. 25,000 season tickets were sold. The most popular exhibit was Follett Osler's Crystal fountain, which was made especially for the exhibition. It was 27 feet high and consisted of 4 tons of pure crystal glass.
There were exotic offerings of the East and the mechanical and scientific triumphs of the West. An Hydraulic Press, Nasmyth's famous steam hammer, Bessmer's centrifugal pumps, Brunel's 31-ton broad gauge locomotive and tens of thousands of other articles. Visitors had a splendid view of Kent and Surrey and pondered on the giant dinosaurs that were strategically placed in the grounds. During the first 30 years an average of 2,000,000 people visited the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. There were concerts, music festivals, massed bands, circuses, pantomimes, firework displays. A boating lake.
Royalty loved the place. Queen Victoria and Albert were frequent visitors. Also: Napolean III turned up in 1855, so did the Sultan of Turkey (1867), the Khedive of Egypt (1869), the Shah of Persia (1873), Tsar Alexander II (1874), the Sultan of Zanzibar (1875), the King and Queen of Greece (1876) and the Kaiser himself (1891). In 1859 the first of the Handel festivals was held with a chorus and orchestra of 4,000.
In 1911, although the Palace attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors it did not save the Crystal Palace Company from bankruptcy. The property was sold for £230,000 and was bought by Lord Plymouth who wanted to save it for the people. A Lord Mayor's fund was then set up to raise money to relieve Lord Plymouth of his responsibility and in 1913 the Palace became the property of the Nation. By this time the building was starving of proper care and attention and deteriorated further during the First World War through being used as a naval depot. When in 1920 it was reopened to the public the Palace was near derelict. The trustees set about the task of restoration. Sir Henry Buckland was their choice of Managing Director and a yearly revenue of £80,000 was built up and on this relatively small sum he saved the building, kept it in reasonable condition and built a reserve fund.
November 1936 a small fire broke out in a staff lavatory. Within 1/2 hour the building was a blazing inferno. Strong winds fanned the blaze. From all over London fire brigades arrived, 89 engines and 381 firemen - nearly half of London's total strength. Crowds of sightseers and an army of police. Mounted Police were brought in to force back the crowds so that the fire crews could operate their water pumps. Flames at times reached 300 feet into the air. In 1939 the Second World War started. Brunel's water towers survived into the 1940's. One of the excuses given for their demolition was that they acted as a London landmark for enemy bombers. The gates that now divide Kensington Gardens from Hyde Park on the South Road once stood inside the Crystal Palace. Bromley Council took over the grounds from the GLC in 1986.

Boundaries: Bromley, Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark.

Janet Stead..............http://www.reach-for-the-skies.co.uk