The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace was originally created by Joseph Paxton to house

the Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations that was to be staged in
Hyde Park, ondon in !"#!$
The Co%%ission in charge of %ounting the &reat Exhibition was
established in January !"#', and it was decided at the outset that the
entire pro(ect would be funded by public subscription$ )n executi*e
+uilding Co%%ittee was ,uickly for%ed to o*ersee the design and
construction of the exhibition building$
+y !# -arch !"#' they were ready to in*ite sub%issions, which had
to confor% to se*eral key speci.cations/ the building had to be
te%porary, si%ple, as cheap as possible, and econo%ical to build
within the short ti%e re%aining before the Exhibition opening, which
had already been scheduled for ! -ay !"#!$
0ithin three weeks, the co%%ittee had recei*ed so%e 12# entries,
including 3" international sub%issions fro% )ustralia, the
Netherlands, +elgiu%, Hano*er, 4wit5erland, +runswick, Ha%burg and
6rance$The +uilding Co%%ittee disliked the% all and atte%pted to
design their own, putting together ideas fro% a nu%ber of entries$
Not only was this regarded by conte%porary critics as unethical, the
result was also totally unsuitable$ The Co%%ittee7s plan, published in
-ay !"#', would ha*e taken !# %onths to build and needed so%e !#
%illion bricks for its construction$
Joseph Paxton's design
Joseph Paxton had been building greenhouses for the 8uke of
8e*onshire at Chatsworth, basing his designs on the structure of the
9egia lily$ 0hen he was brought to Henry Cole with an idea that could
be reali5ed in ten %onths, Cole agreed that it could be put before the
Co%%ittee$ Paxton proposed a gigantic pre:fabricated building of iron
and glass$
This building, with its skeleton of cast:iron colu%ns supporting a
network of girders, was based on a 12ft ;<$3%= %odule of parts pre:
fabricated in +ir%ingha%$ It not only was inno*ati*e technologically,
but also used %any other industrial skills and in*entions of the ti%e$
The re%o*al of the glass tax only a few years pre*iously had
contributed to the de*elop%ent of plate glass by the +ir%ingha%
glass co%pany, Chance +ros$
6ox and Henderson7s expertise with structural ironwork led Joseph
Paxton to in*ite the% to build The Crystal Palace$
Its interior *olu%e was organi5ed into galleries which were alternately
12 feet and 2" feet wide$ The roof of these galleries stepped up by 1'
feet e*ery <1 feet and cul%inated in a central na*e <1 feet wide$ The
7ridge and furrow7 roof gla5ing syste% specially de*ised for the
occasion re,uired 2>:inch glass sheets capable of spanning between
furrows " feet apart, with three ridges occurring e*ery 12 feet$
8ue to its inno*ati*e %odular design and construction techni,ues and
the in*ention of the telegraph which allowed rapid co%%unication
between the site and the %anufacturers in the -idlands, it was ready
in nine %onths$ 6or their work, 6ox, Cubitt and Paxton were knighted
on 13 ?ctober !"#!$)fter the exhibition they were e%ployed by the
Crystal Palace Co%pany to %o*e the structure to 4ydenha%, re:
erecting and enlarging it on 4ydenha% Hill, thereafter known as
Crystal Palace$
?n ! -ay !"#!, exactly on schedule, the Exhibition was opened by
@ueen Aictoria$
0hen, after six %onths, the &reat Exhibition closed its doors o*er six
%illion people had *isited it$ Joseph Paxton was knighted and public
opinion cla%oured, without success, for the Crystal Palace to re%ain
in the park$ 6ortunately six gentle%en of %eans ca%e to the rescue
by purchasing the co%plete structure fro% 6ox Henderson, the
contractors who had erected and owned the building$
In the su%%er of !"#1 a new site was found for the now redesigned
Crystal Palace on 4ydenha% Hill in south east ondon and
reconstruction co%%enced$
9eopening in !"#2, the Crystal Palace pro*ided a national centre for
the enlighten%ent of the people$ The building featured courts
depicting *arious periods of architecture as well as courts of art and
%anufacture$
The grounds of the palace contained %agni.cent fountains, an
unri*aled collection of statuary, %any .ne speci%ens of trees and
shrubs and full si5e %odels of prehistoric ani%als, which were to
beco%e world fa%ous$
ater .rework displays, ballooning, cycle racing, football cup .nals,
funfairs, %otor racing and %any other e*ents took place in the
grounds$
?f course the Crystal Palace was also fa%ous for its %agni.cent water
towers, co%%issioned by Paxton and designed by Isa%bard Bingdo%
+runel$
In No*e%ber !>3C the Crystal Palace was tragically destroyed in a
spectacular .re$