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The Crystal Palace was a Wrought Iron and glass building1 originally erected in Hyde Park , London , England to house the Great Exhibition of 1851 . More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's 990,000 Square Feet of exhibition space to display examples of the latest Technology developed in the Industrial Revolution . Designed by Joseph Paxton , the Great Exhibition building was 1,850 feet in length (560 m) and 110 feet (33 m) tall, with an interior height of 408 feet. After the exhibition, the building was moved to what is now Upper Norwood where it was enlarged and stood from 1854 until 1936 . It attracted many thousands of visitors from all levels of society. The name ''Crystal Palace'' was coined by the satirical magazine ''Punch'' . The name was later used to denote this Area Of South London and the park that surrounds the site, home of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre . ORIGINAL HYDE PARK BUILDING The huge, modular Glass and Iron structure at the top of Sydenham Hill was originally erected in Hyde Park in London to house The Great Exhibition of 1851, embodying the products of many Countries throughout the world. The magnificent Crystal Palace's creator, Joseph Paxton , was Knight ed in recognition of his work. Paxton had been head Gardener at Chatsworth , in Derbyshire , where he had befriended its owner, the Duke Of Devonshire . Here he had Experiment ed with Glass and Iron in the creation of large Greenhouses and had seen something of their strength and durability. He applied this knowledge to the plans for the Great Exhibition Building — with astounding results. Planners had been looking for strength, durability, simplicity of construction and speed — and this they got from Paxton's ideas. According to the 2004 Encyclopædia Britannica , "Paxton was partly inspired by the organic structure of the Amazonian lily '' Victoria Regia '', which he successfully cultivated". The project was engineered by Sir William Cubitt . Full-size, living Elm Trees in the park were enclosed within the central exhibition hall near the 27-foot-tall Crystal Fountain. Sparrows became a nuisance. H.M Queen Victoria mentioned this problem to the Duke Of Wellington , who offered the famous solution, " Sparrerhawks , Ma'am!". The Crystal Palace was built by about 5,000 Navvies who worked very hard for very little and completed their tasks quickly. Their welfare became the concern of Catherine Marsh , who noticed the poor conditions they were working in and treatment they received: she spared no effort to see that they received fair and just treatment. She made sure that meals were provided for them. The ironwork contractors were Fox, Henderson. The 900,000 square feet (84,000 m&2) of glass was provided by the Chance Brothers glassworks in Smethwick , Birmingham . They were the only glassworks capable of fulfilling such a large order, and had to bring in labour from France to meet it in time. RELOCATION The life of the Great Exhibition was limited to six months, and something then had to be done with the building. Against the wishes of Parliamentary opponents, the edifice was re-erected on a property named Penge Place that had been excised from Penge Common atop Sydenham Hill. It was much modified and enlarged so much that it extended beyond the boundary of Penge Place, which was also the boundary between Surrey and Kent . Within two years, Queen Victoria again performed an opening Ceremony . The new site hosted concerts, exhibits, and public entertainment. Several localities claim to be the area to which the building was relocated. The street address of the Crystal Palace was Sydenham SE26 but the actual building and parklands were in Penge. At the time of relocation most of the buildings were in Croydon , as were a majority of the grounds. In 1899 the county boundary was moved, transferring the entire site to Penge Urban District in Kent . The site is now within the Crystal Palace Ward of the London Borough Of Bromley . Two Railway Stations were opened to serve the permanent exhibition. The Low Level Station is still in use as Crystal Palace Railway Station , and part of the High Level Station, from which a subway gave access to the Parade area, can also still be seen, with its Italian Mosaic roofing. This subway is a Grade II Listed Building . The South Gate is served by Penge West Railway Station . For some time this station was on an Atmospheric Railway . This is often confused with a 550-metre pneumatic passenger railway which was exhibited at the Crystal Palace in 1864. See also Thomas Webster Rammell There is an apocryphal story, popular among local schoolchildren, that Crystal Palace High Level Station was closed because a commuter train was trapped by a tunnel collapse and remains there to this day. In reality the closure was a scheduled part of the decline of the railway network in the 1950s. This may have arisen as a result of the experimental pneumatic railway 1864, to which a similar story is attached. See below and also Thomas Webster Rammell the engineer behind the project. WATER FEATURES Joseph Paxton was first and foremost a gardener, and his layout of Garden s, Fountain s, Terrace s and Cascade s left no doubt as to his ability. One thing he did have a problem with was water supply. Such was his enthusiasm that thousands of gallons of water were needed in order to feed the myriad fountains and cascades which abounded in the Crystal Palace park. The two main jets were 250 feet (76 m) high. Initially Water Tower s were constructed, but the weight of water in the raised tanks caused them to collapse. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was consulted and came up with the plans for two mighty water towers, one at the north and the other at the south end of the building. Each supported a tremendous load of water, which was gathered from three reservoirs, at either end of and in the middle of the park. Two years later, the grand fountains and cascades were opened, again in the presence of the Queen, who got wet when a gust of wind swept mists of spray over the Royal carriage. ATTRACTIONS The exhibits included just about every marvel of the Victorian Age , encompassing the products of many countries throughout the world. There was Pottery and Porcelain ; ironwork and Furniture ; steam hammers and hydraulic presses; Perfume s and Piano s; houses and diving suits; Firearm s and Barometer s; Fabric s and Fireworks . '' statue]] Among the attractions was The First Ever Dinosaur Exhibition , life-size (but anatomically inaccurate) models designed and made by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins , situated by the Lower lakes, near the Anerley entrance and still there in 2007. Hawkins held a dinner party for twenty-two guests inside the hollow body of one of the '' Iguanodon ''. The dinosaurs were renovated in a £4,000,000 project in 2002, and were officially unveiled by the Duke Of Edinburgh . In 1857 the great national institution of the Handel Festival was relocated to Crystal Palace. This consisted of a three-day event in which massed choirs, consisting of several thousand singers, together with leading soloists, orchestra and conductor, performed Handel's Oratorios ' The Messiah ', ' Israel In Egypt ' and ' Judas Maccabaeus ' on successive nights before huge audiences. In 1859 the Centenary Festival was held, after which the event was triennial. The first 'live' recordings of a public concert in Britain were made on wax cylinders during a performance of ''Israel in Egypt'' at Crystal Palace in 1888. Queen Victoria loved the place and said she found it "enchanting". This was to some extent due to the degree of esteem in which she held the ultimate architect of its fortunes, her beloved husband, Prince Albert . Most FA Cup finals in the early years of the competition were held in Crystal Palace Park. The last to be held there was in 1914, when George V became the first reigning monarch to watch the final. Even before the creation of the Crystal Palace F.C. , a team bearing the name Crystal Palace played in the competition, its players coming from the staff of the Crystal Palace. The London County Cricket Club , founded by the Crystal Palace Company, played first-class Cricket in the park between 1900 and 1908. DECLINE The fortunes of the Crystal Palace began to decline when money was not available for maintenance. This was to a large extent due to the failure to obtain sufficient money by way of admission fees, in turn due to the inability to cater for a large portion of the population. The mass of people who would gladly visit the Palace were unable to do so because the only day on which they could get away from work was Sunday, and Sunday was the day on which the Palace was firmly closed. No amount of protest had any effect: the Lord's Day Observance Society (as today) held that people should not be encouraged to work at the Palace or drive transport on Sunday, and that if people wanted to visit, then their employers should give them time off during the working week. This, naturally, they would not do. In 1911, the Festival Of Empire was held at the building to mark the Coronation of George V and Queen Mary . The building fell into disrepair and two years later the 1st Earl Of Plymouth purchased it for the nation to save it from developers. In the . Sir Henry Buckland took over as General Manager, and things began to look up, many former attractions being resumed, including the Thursday evening displays of Fireworks by Brocks . DESTRUCTION BY FIRE On 30 November 1936 came the final catastrophe. Within hours, fire consumed all that had stood for a mighty empire and boundless imagination. The Palace was destroyed, the fire being seen for miles with the night sky lit up by the flames. Just as in 1866 when the north transept burnt down, the building was not adequately insured to cover the cost of rebuilding. The South Tower was used for tests by television pioneer John Logie Baird for his mechanical television experiments and much of his work was destroyed in the fire. Winston Churchill on his way home from the House Of Commons said, "This is the end of an age". All that was left standing were the two water towers, and these were taken down during World War II . The reason given was that the Germans could have used them to navigate their way to London. The north one was Dynamite d, while the south one was dismantled as it was very close to other buildings. After the war, the site was used for a number of purposes. Between 1953 and 1973 a motor car racing circuit operated on the site, with some race meetings supported by the Greater London Council . The Crystal Palace Foundation was created in 1979 to keep alive the memory and respect for this epic age in Britain's history. Discussion regarding its future continues, various plans have been put forward but none have been put into action on the Top Site. PROTOTYPE The Crystal Palace was the prototype for several other exhibition buildings, including the New York Crystal Palace of 1853, the Glaspalast in Munich of 1854, and the Palácio de Cristal in Porto of 1865. The design of the Crystal Palace has also inspired many latter-day construction projects, such as the Dallas, Texas -based Infomart and the Eaton Centre shopping mall in downtown Toronto . Oxford Rewley Road Railway Station of 1851 used the same construction technology. THE CRYSTAL PALACE IN POPULAR CULTURE The Crystal Palace made a strong impression on visitors coming from all over Europe, including a number of writers. It soon became a symbol of modernity and civilization, hailed by some and decried by others.
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