Crystal Palace, London

The Crystal Palace was a building so improbable that many engineers said it could not be built. It was designed in nine days, erected in months, and stood for 85 years before burning to the ground in one night.

What Was It

The Crystal Palace was a vast prefabricated structure of cast iron and plate glass, originally built in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Designed by Joseph Paxton, a gardener by training, it covered 92,000 square metres of floor space and enclosed several full-grown elm trees within its nave. It was the largest enclosed space in the world at the time of its construction.

The interior nave of the Crystal Palace, 1851. Several mature elm trees were enclosed within the structure.

Where Was It

The Crystal Palace was originally erected in Hyde Park, London, for the duration of the Great Exhibition. After the exhibition closed, it was dismantled and rebuilt on Sydenham Hill in south London between 1852 and 1854, where it remained until its destruction. The surrounding parkland, now known as Crystal Palace Park, still exists.

Key Dates

1850. Joseph Paxton submits his design, based on the greenhouse structures he built at Chatsworth House.
1851. The Crystal Palace opens in Hyde Park on 1 May, housing the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations.
1852. The Great Exhibition closes. The structure is dismantled and moved to Sydenham Hill.
1854. The rebuilt and enlarged Crystal Palace reopens at Sydenham on 10 June.
1866. The north transept is destroyed by fire.
1911. The Festival of Empire is held at the palace.
1936. On the night of 30 November, a fire breaks out in the women’s cloakroom. By morning the entire structure has been destroyed. Winston Churchill, watching from a distance, remarks: “This is the end of an age.”

Key Players

Joseph Paxton designed the building in nine days after the official design competition had already closed. A head gardener with no formal architectural training, he had pioneered the use of prefabricated glass and iron in the lily house at Chatsworth. His Crystal Palace design was published in the Illustrated London News before it was officially accepted, generating such public enthusiasm that the committee had little choice but to adopt it.

Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria, was the driving force behind the Great Exhibition and championed the Crystal Palace as its home. He worked closely with the Royal Commission to ensure the project was realised.

Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition on 1 May 1851 and visited the palace on numerous occasions, describing it in her diary as “magical” and “beyond description.”

The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 organised the Great Exhibition and oversaw the construction of the palace. Its surplus funds were used to purchase land in South Kensington, on which the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum were subsequently built.

The Story Behind It

The fire broke out on the evening of 30 November 1936, in a room at the south end of the building. Within minutes it had spread to the central transept. By the time fire brigades arrived from across London, the structure was beyond saving. The iron and glass building, which many had assumed was fireproof, burned with extraordinary ferocity, the wooden floors and fittings acting as kindling throughout the vast interior.

The fire of 30 November 1936, visible from as far away as eight counties.

The glow was visible from eight counties. An estimated 100,000 people gathered on surrounding hills to watch. No lives were lost.

The cause was never definitively established. The building had been in financial difficulty for years, and its owners had struggled to find a sustainable purpose for it in the twentieth century. It had hosted concerts, exhibitions, circuses, and football cup finals, but it had never quite found its footing in the modern world.

Winston Churchill, watching the flames from a distance, said: “This is the end of an age.”

The site was acquired by the London County Council in 1951 and remains a public park. The two surviving water towers, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, were demolished in 1941 on the orders of Winston Churchill, who feared they would serve as navigation landmarks for German bombers. The sphinxes that once flanked the grand staircase survive, weathered and cracked, still standing in the park.

“This is the end of an age.” Winston Churchill, 30 November 1936