Crystal Palace,

Sir Joseph Paxton

Sydenham, London

Image and text scanned by Nathalie Chevalier.

This image may be used without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose.

The Palace at Sydenham, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, consists entirely of glass and iron. It was constructed mainly with the materials of the first great Industrial Exhibition of 1851, and was opened in 1854. It is composed of a spacious central hall or nave 1608 feet long, with lateral sections, two aisles, and two transepts. A third transept at the north end which formed a palm house, of imposing dimensions, was burned down in 1866. The cost of the whole undertaking, including the magnificent garden and grounds, and much additional land outside, amounted to a million and a half sterling.[text accompanying photograph]

Related Material

• External view of the Roof and Vaulting of the Crystal Palace after the move to Sydenham
• The Byzantine Court at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham
• The Egyptian Court at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham
• The Dinosaur Court at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham
• The Italian Terraces at Crystal Palace, Sydenham

Bibliography

The volume containing these images by an unidentified photographer bears the imprint "With H. and C. F. Feist's compliments" but no name, date, or place of publication, though the Feists were dealers in port wine, and Plate 30 demonstrates that the photograph must have been taken after 1902, and John R. Mendel offers evidence that it dates before mid-1906 [GPL].

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Last modified 7 November 2003