90-611: Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and Literature , also known as Crystal Palace Company's School of Art, was opened in 1854 by the Crystal Palace Company as a new enterprise, to occupy part of the centrepiece building of the Great Exhibition , following its re-erection in suburban south-east London . The civil engineer and later first director of the Royal College of Music , George Grove ,
180-538: A South West sub-region consisting of Croydon, Kingston, Lambeth, Merton, Sutton, Richmond and Wandsworth. In 2011 a new south London region was created consisting of Bromley, Croydon, the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames, Merton, Sutton, Wandsworth, Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham. South London is, like other parts of London and the UK in general, a temperate maritime climate according to
270-462: A curtain wall system that allowed the hanging of vertical bays of glass from cantilevered beams. The Lily House was built specifically to house the Victoria amazonica waterlily which had recently been discovered by European botanists; the first specimen to reach England was originally kept at Kew Gardens , but it did not do well. Paxton's reputation as a gardener was so high by that time that he
360-506: A building. It astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights. It has been suggested that the name of the building resulted from a piece penned by the playwright Douglas Jerrold , who in July 1850 wrote in the satirical magazine Punch about the forthcoming Great Exhibition, referring to a "palace of very crystal". After the exhibition, the Palace
450-478: A comparable size. His submission was budgeted at a remarkably low £85,800. By comparison, this was about 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 times more than the Great Stove at Chatsworth but it was only 28% of the estimated cost of Turner's design, and it promised a building which, with a footprint of over 770,000 square feet (18 acres; 7.2 ha), would cover roughly 25 times the ground area of its progenitor. Impressed by
540-410: A controversial issue that had been a major sticking point for the vocal anti-exhibition lobby. Paxton's modular, hierarchical design reflected his practical brilliance as a designer and problem-solver. It incorporated many breakthroughs, offered practical advantages that no conventional building of that era could match and, above all, it embodied the spirit of British innovation and industrial might that
630-617: A description of the dinosaurs was entitled: 'Geology and Inhabitants of the Ancient World. Described by Richard Owen , FRS. The animals constructed by B.W. Hawkins , FGS'. In the central transept was the 4,000-piece Grand Orchestra built around the 4,500-pipe Great Organ. There was a concert room with over 4,000 seats that hosted successful Handel Festivals for many years and August Manns's Crystal Palace Concerts from 1855 until 1901. The performance spaces hosted concerts, exhibits, and public entertainment. Many famous people visited
720-419: A grid 77 modules long by 19 modules wide. As each module was self-supporting, Paxton was able to leave out modules in some areas, creating larger square or rectangular spaces within the building to accommodate larger exhibits. On the lower level, these larger spaces were covered by the floor above, and on the upper level by longer spans of roofing, but the dimensions of these larger spaces were always multiples of
810-521: A grid of cast iron beams, which was held up on slim cast iron pillars. The resulting cube, with a floor area of 24 feet (7.3 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m), formed the basic structural module of the building. By multiplying these modules into a grid, the structure could be extended virtually indefinitely. In its original form, the ground level of the Crystal Palace (in plan) measured 1,848 feet (563 m) by 456 feet (139 m), which equates to
900-620: A key inspiration. Paxton left his meeting with Cole on 9 June 1850 fired with enthusiasm. He immediately went to Hyde Park, where he walked the site earmarked for the Exhibition. Two days later on 11 June, while attending a board meeting of the Midland Railway , Paxton made his original concept drawing, which he doodled onto a sheet of pink blotting paper . This rough sketch (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum ) incorporated all
990-490: A major gamble for Paxton, but circumstances were in his favour: he enjoyed a stellar reputation as a garden designer and builder, he was confident that his design was perfectly suited to the brief, and the commission was under pressure to choose a design and get it built, with the exhibition opening less than a year away. In the event, Paxton's design fulfilled and surpassed all the requirements, and it proved to be vastly faster and cheaper to build than any other form of building of
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#17327759139721080-472: A problem with sparrows becoming a nuisance, and shooting was out of the question inside a glass building. Queen Victoria mentioned this problem to the Duke of Wellington , who offered the solution, " Sparrowhawks , Ma'am". Paxton was acclaimed worldwide for his achievement and was knighted by Queen Victoria in recognition of his work. The project was engineered by William Cubitt ; Paxton's construction partner
1170-438: A property named Penge Place, which had been excised from Penge Common at the top of Sydenham Hill . The reconstruction of the Crystal Palace began on Sydenham Hill in 1852. The new building, while incorporating most of the constructional parts of the original one at Hyde Park, was so completely different in form as to be properly considered a quite different structure – a ' Beaux-arts ' form in glass and metal. The main gallery
1260-520: A reasonable number of bays had been completed, the columns for the upper floor were erected (longer shear-legs were used for this, but the operation was essentially the same as for the ground floor). Once the ground floor structure was complete, the final assembly of the upper floor followed rapidly. For the glazing, Paxton used larger versions of machines he had originally devised for the Great Stove at Chatsworth, installing on-site production line systems, powered by steam engines, that dressed and finished
1350-414: A self-supporting shell standing on slim iron columns, with no internal structural walls whatsoever. Because it was covered almost entirely in glass, it also needed no artificial lighting during the day, thereby reducing the exhibition's running costs. Full-size elm trees growing in the park were enclosed within the central exhibition hall near the 27-foot (8 m) tall Crystal Fountain. However this caused
1440-540: A standby design of its own, for a brick building in the rundbogenstil (round-arch style) by Donaldson, featuring a sheet-iron dome designed by Tunnel, but it was widely criticized and ridiculed when it was published in the newspapers. Adding to the committee's woes, the site for the exhibition was still not confirmed. The preferred site was in Hyde Park, adjacent to Princes Gate near Pennington Road, but other sites considered included Wormwood Scrubs , Battersea Park ,
1530-600: A week. Thanks to the simplicity of Paxton's design and the combined efficiency of the building contractor and their suppliers, the entire structure was assembled with extraordinary speed: a team of 80 men could fix more than 18,000 panes of sheet glass in a week, and the building was completed and ready to receive exhibits in just five months. According to a study by John Gardner of Anglia Ruskin University , published in The International Journal for
1620-806: Is not known. The event made a surplus of £186,000 (equivalent to £25,720,000), money which was used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum in South Kensington . The Crystal Palace had the first major installation of public toilets , the Retiring Rooms , in which sanitary engineer George Jennings installed his "Monkey Closet" flushing lavatory (initially just for men but later catering for women also). During
1710-558: Is notably lower than other London area weather stations (by about 50–100 hours a year), suggesting Greenwich may be a fog trap in winter, and that the hillier land to the south may obscure early morning and late evening sunshine. The highest temperature recorded across south London was 38.1 °C (100.6 °F) on the same occasion at Kew Gardens. Although the Met Office accepts a higher reading from Brogdale in Kent, many have questioned
1800-538: Is still in use as Crystal Palace , while the only remains of the High Level station are the subway under the Parade with its Italian mosaic roofing, 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, which
1890-516: Is that while there are more than thirty bridges linking the area with West London and the City , there is only one, Tower Bridge , linking the area with East London . Very little of London's underground rail network lies south of the river, largely due to the challenging geology; however, 21st-century technology makes tunnelling much cheaper (though stations are still expensive) and this may lead to an improved underground provision in south London with
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#17327759139721980-523: The City of London , a sui generis local authority which is mainly located north of the Thames. The term 'south London' has been used for a variety of formal purposes with the boundaries defined according to the purposes of the designation. In 2017 the government asked the Boundary Commission for England to reconsider the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. The commission's study,
2070-523: The Crossrail 2 line proposed alongside extensions to the Northern and Bakerloo Lines . South London contains an extensive overground rail network and all of London's trams operate within the area. The 12 boroughs included, in whole or part are: (Outer London for statistics) A small area of land, on which the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge stands, is not part of Southwark. It forms part of
2160-561: The Isle of Dogs , Victoria Park , and Regent's Park . Opponents of the scheme lobbied strenuously against the use of Hyde Park (and they were strongly supported by The Times ). The most outspoken critic was Charles Sibthorp ; he denounced the exhibition as "one of the greatest humbugs, frauds and absurdities ever known," and his trenchant opposition to both the exhibition and its building continued even after it had closed. At this point, renowned gardener Joseph Paxton became interested in
2250-472: The Köppen climate classification system . Three Met Office weather stations currently collect climate data south of the river; Kew, Hampton and Kenley Airfield, on the southern edge of the urban area. Long term climate observations dating back to 1763 are available for Greenwich, although observations ceased here in 2003. Temperatures increase towards the Thames, firstly because of the urban warming effect of
2340-462: The Palm House, Kew Gardens , and the other by French architect Hector Horeau but despite the great number of submissions, the committee rejected them all. Turner was furious at the rejection and reportedly badgered the commissioners for months afterwards, seeking compensation, but at an estimated £300,000, his design (like Horeau's) was too expensive. As a last resort, the committee came up with
2430-679: The Crystal Palace especially during its early years, including the likes of Emma Darwin , the wife of Charles Darwin who noted in her diary on 10 June 1854, "Opening Crystal Pal". South London South London is the southern part of Greater London , England , south of the River Thames . The region consists of the boroughs , in whole or in part, of Bexley , Bromley , Croydon , Greenwich , Kingston , Lambeth , Lewisham , Merton , Richmond , Southwark , Sutton and Wandsworth . South London originally emerged from Southwark , first recorded as Suthriganaweorc , meaning 'fort of
2520-540: The Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m), and was three times the size of St Paul's Cathedral . The 60,000 panes of glass were manufactured by the Chance Brothers . The 990,000-square-foot building with its 128-foot-high ceiling was completed in thirty-nine weeks. The Crystal Palace boasted the greatest area of glass ever seen in
2610-405: The Great Exhibition of 1851, sent many of its students to the four quarters of the globe. The curriculum of the school included mechanical and civil courses and about five of the circular rooms were used. There was a fitting shop, pattern shop, and drawing office. Those in the mechanical section built a 4 h.p. vertical engine which was generally exhibited at the head of the stairs on the south side of
2700-447: The Great Exhibition was intended to celebrate. The geometry of the Crystal Palace was a classic example of the concept of form following manufacturer's limitations: the shape and size of the whole building was directly based around the size of the panes of glass made by the supplier, Chance Brothers of Smethwick . These were the largest available at the time, measuring 10 inches (25 cm) wide by 49 inches (120 cm) long. Because
2790-543: The History of Engineering & Technology, the speed of the erection work was thanks to the use, for the first time, of nuts and bolts made to what was later to be known as the British Standard Whitworth (BSW), when up to that time nuts and bolts were made individually, and could not be interchanged. When completed, the Crystal Palace provided an unrivalled space for exhibits, since it was essentially
Crystal Palace School - Misplaced Pages Continue
2880-603: The Palace. In the Civil Engineering section we surveyed the whole of the grounds, and drew plans and made estimates for an imaginary railway which extended from one side to the other. This entailed all the necessary estimates for embankments, a cantilever bridge etc. Then there was the Colonial section presided over by a most congenial superintendent, who had no doubt seen much of a pioneer's life and infused his enthusiasm into those who belonged to his section. Concerning
2970-451: The apex of the shear, the navvies hoisted the columns, girders and other parts into place. As soon as two adjacent columns had been erected, a girder was hoisted into place between them and bolted onto the connectors. The columns were erected in opposite pairs, then two more girders were connected to form a self-supporting square—this was the basic frame of each module. The shears would then be moved along and an adjoining bay constructed. When
3060-420: The basic 24 feet (7.3 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m) grid unit. The modules were also strong enough to be stacked vertically, enabling Paxton to add an upper floor that nearly doubled the amount of available exhibition space. The first floor galleries were double the height of the ground floor galleries below, and the Crystal Palace could theoretically have accommodated a full second-floor gallery, but this space
3150-450: The basic features of the finished building, and it is a mark of Paxton's ingenuity and industriousness that detailed plans, calculations and costings were ready to submit in less than two weeks. (The statue of Albert, Prince Consort , in Perth, Scotland , was sculpted with the subject holding a plan of the Crystal Palace. The statue was unveiled by Queen Victoria in 1864. ) The project was
3240-503: The building parts. These included a machine that mechanically grooved the wooden window sash bars and a painting machine that automatically dipped the parts in paint and then passed them through a series of rotating brushes to remove the excess. The last major components to be put into place were the 16 semi-circular ribs of the vaulted transept, which were the only major structural parts that were made of wood. These were raised into position as eight pairs, and all were fixed into place within
3330-417: The cast iron columns, which also had an ingenious dual function: each was cast with a hollow core, allowing it to double as a concealed down-pipe that carried the storm-water down into the drains beneath the building. One of the few issues Paxton could not completely solve was leaks—when completed, rain was found to be leaking into the huge building in over a thousand places. The leaks were sealed with putty, but
3420-444: The design and construction of the exhibition building, comprising accomplished engineers Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Robert Stephenson , renowned architects Charles Barry and Thomas Leverton Donaldson , and chaired by William Cubitt . By 15 March 1850 they were ready to invite submissions which had to conform to several key specifications: the building had to be temporary, simple, as cheap as possible, and economical to build within
3510-460: The development of powered cranes ; the raising of the columns was done manually using shear legs (or shears), a simple crane mechanism. These consisted of two strong poles which were set several meters apart at the base and then lashed together at the top to form a triangle; this was stabilized and kept vertical by guy ropes fixed to the apex, stretched taut and tied to stakes driven into the ground some distance away. Using pulleys and ropes hung from
3600-672: The eastern portion in Beckenham, Kent. When built, most of the buildings were in the County of Surrey, as were the majority of grounds, but 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 & Anerley Ward of the London Borough of Bromley . Two railway stations were opened to serve the permanent exhibition: The Low Level station
3690-455: The entire building was scaled around those dimensions, it meant that nearly the whole outer surface could be glazed using hundreds of thousands of identical panes, thereby drastically reducing both their production cost and the time needed to install them. The original Hyde Park building was essentially a vast, flat-roofed rectangular hall. A huge open gallery ran along the main axis, with wings extending down either side. The main exhibition space
Crystal Palace School - Misplaced Pages Continue
3780-414: The exhibition, 827,280 visitors each paid one penny to use them. It is often suggested that the euphemism " spending a penny " originated at the exhibition, but the phrase is more likely to date from the 1890s when public lavatories, fitted with penny-coin-operated locks, were first established by British local authorities. The Great Exhibition closed on 15 October 1851. The life of the Great Exhibition
3870-409: The form of a long triangular prism, which made it both extremely light and very strong, and meant it could be built with the minimum amount of materials. Paxton set the dimensions of this prism by using the length of single pane of glass (49 inches (120 cm)) as the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle, thereby creating a triangle with a length-to-height ratio of 2.5:1, whose base (adjacent side)
3960-514: The home country and the empire. France was the largest foreign contributor. The exhibits were grouped into four main categories—Raw Materials, Machinery, Manufacturers and Fine Arts. The exhibits ranged from the Koh-i-Noor diamond, Sèvres porcelain , and music organs to a massive hydraulic press, and a fire engine. There was also a 27-foot tall Crystal Fountain. In the first week, the prices were £1; they were then reduced to five shillings for
4050-472: The interior and grounds of the building. Within two years the rebuilt Crystal Palace was complete, and on 10 June 1854, Queen Victoria again performed an opening ceremony, in the presence of 40,000 guests. Several localities claim to be the area to which the building was moved. The street address of the Crystal Palace was Sydenham (SE26) after 1917, but the actual building and parklands were mostly in Penge with
4140-536: The light coming into the building, and acted as a primitive evaporative cooling system when water was sprayed onto them. The other part of the solution was Paxton's ingenious ventilation system. Each of the modules that formed the outer walls of the building was fitted with a prefabricated set of louvres that could be opened and closed using a gear mechanism, allowing hot stale air to escape. The flooring consisted of boards 22 centimetres (8.7 in) wide which were spaced about 1 centimetre (0.39 in) apart; together with
4230-427: The louvres, this formed an effective passive air-conditioning system. Because of the pressure differential, the hot air escaping from the louvres generated a constant airflow that drew cooler air up through the gaps in the floor. The floor too had a dual function: the gaps between the boards acted as a grating that allowed dust and small pieces of refuse to fall or be swept through them onto the ground beneath, where it
4320-412: The low bid for the construction contract submitted by the civil engineering contractor Fox, Henderson and Co , the commission accepted the scheme and gave its public endorsement to Paxton's design in July 1850. He was exultant but now had less than eight months to finalize his plans, manufacture the parts and erect the building in time for the exhibition's opening, which was scheduled for 1 May 1851. Paxton
4410-411: The men of Surrey '. From Southwark , London then extended further down into northern Surrey and western Kent . South London began at Southwark at the southern end of London Bridge , the first permanent crossing over the river, with early development of the area being a direct result of the existence and location of the bridge . Southwark was first known as Suthriganaweorc , the fortress of
4500-773: The men of Surrey , mentioned in the Burghal Hidage as part of military system created by Alfred the Great to defeat the Great Heathen Army of the Vikings. Southwark was also known as the Borough due to be it being an incorporated (nationally represented) Borough from 1295. From 1550 to 1899 it was administered as part of the City of London and referred to as the ward of Bridge Without . In 1720, John Strype's 'Survey of London' described Southwark as one of
4590-449: The next three weeks, a price which still effectively limited entrance to middle-class and aristocratic visitors. The working classes finally came to the exhibition on 26 May, when weekday prices were reduced to one shilling (although the price was two shillings and sixpence on Fridays, and still five shillings on Saturdays). Over six million admissions were counted at the toll-gates, although the proportion which were repeat/returning visitors
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#17327759139724680-444: The parts could be mass-produced in large numbers, and many parts served multiple functions, further reducing both the number of parts needed and their overall cost. Because of its comparatively low weight, the Crystal Palace required no heavy masonry for supporting walls or foundations. The relatively light concrete footings on which it stood could be left in the ground once the building was removed (they remain in place today just beneath
4770-423: The pioneering public gardens at Birkenhead Park which directly influenced the design of New York's Central Park . At Chatsworth, he had experimented extensively with glasshouse construction, developing many novel techniques for modular construction, using combinations of standard-sized sheets of glass, laminated wood , and prefabricated cast iron. The "Great Stove" (or conservatory) at Chatsworth (built in 1836)
4860-440: The positions for the cast iron columns; these points were then set precisely by theodolite measurements. Then the concrete foundations were poured, and the base plates for the columns were set into them. Once the foundations were in place, the erection of the modules proceeded rapidly. Connector brackets were attached to the top of each column before erection, and these were then hoisted into position. The project took place before
4950-466: The project, and with the enthusiastic backing of commission member Henry Cole , he decided to submit his own design. At this time, Paxton was chiefly known for his celebrated career as the head gardener for the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House . By 1850, Paxton had become a preeminent figure in British horticulture and had also earned great renown as a freelance garden designer; his works included
5040-508: The purposes of progress reporting on the London Plan , there was a south London sub-region in operation from 2004 to 2008 consisting of Bromley, Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Sutton. In 2001 this area had a population of 1,329,000. This definition is used by organisations such as Connexions . Between 2008 and 2011 it was replaced with a South East sub-region consisting of Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley and
5130-410: The relatively poor quality of the sealant materials available at that time meant that the problem was never totally overcome. To maintain a comfortable temperature inside such a large glass building was another major challenge, because the Great Exhibition took place decades before the introduction of electricity and air-conditioning. Glasshouses rely on the fact that they accumulate and retain heat from
5220-639: The rigidity of the South Tower, I was working in a high storey soon after joining the school when there was a strong wind, and, feeling giddy, I mentioned it to the superintendent. He informed me that it rocked several inches at the top, which made it safer than absolute rigidity. The school was a centre for the examinations of the Oxford and Cambridge syndicates . 51°25′19″N 0°04′26″W / 51.422°N 0.074°W / 51.422; -0.074 The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace
5310-401: The roof of the original Hyde Park structure had a horizontal profile, so heavy rain posed a potentially serious safety hazard. Because normal cast glass is brittle and has low tensile strength, there was a risk that the weight of any excess water build-up on the roof might have caused panes to shatter, showering shards of glass onto the patrons, ruining the valuable exhibits beneath, and weakening
5400-443: The roofing. Once completed, the channels acted both as the joists that supported the roof sections, and as guttering—a patented design now widely known as a " Paxton gutter ". These gutters conducted the rainwater to the ends of each furrow, where they emptied into the larger main gutters, which were set at right angles to the smaller gutters, along the top of the main horizontal roof beams. These main gutters drained at either end into
5490-477: The short time remaining before the exhibition opening, which had already been scheduled for 1 May 1851. Within three weeks, the committee had received some 245 entries, including 38 international submissions from Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hanover , Switzerland, Brunswick , Hamburg and France . Two designs, both in iron and glass, were singled out for praise—one by Richard Turner , co-designer of
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#17327759139725580-701: The site, home of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre , which was previously a football stadium that hosted the FA Cup Final between 1895 and 1914. Crystal Palace F.C. were founded at the site and played at the Cup Final venue in their early years. The park still contains Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins 's Crystal Palace Dinosaurs which date back to 1854. The huge, modular, iron, wood and glass, structure
5670-591: The south than in areas north of the Thames . The opening of Westminster Bridge and other subsequent bridges to the west encouraged growth in the south-west, but only Tower Bridge was built to the east of London Bridge , so south-east London grew more slowly, at least until the Surrey Commercial Docks were built. The development of a dense network of railway lines in the mid nineteenth century significantly accelerated growth. The County of London
5760-415: The structure. Paxton's ridge-and-furrow roof was designed to shed water very effectively. Rain ran off the angled glass roof panes into U-shaped timber channels which ran the length of each roof section at the bottom of the 'furrow'. These channels were ingeniously multifunctional. During construction, they served as the rails that supported and guided the trolleys on which the glaziers sat as they installed
5850-439: The sun, but such heat buildup would have been a major problem for the exhibition. This would have been exacerbated by the heat produced by the thousands of people who would be in the building at any given time. Paxton solved this with two clever strategies. One was to install external canvas shade-cloths that were stretched across the roof ridges. These served multiple functions: they reduced heat transmission, moderated and softened
5940-463: The surface of the site). The modules could be erected as quickly as the parts could reach the site—some sections were standing within eighteen hours of leaving the factory—and since each unit was self-supporting, workers were able to assemble much of the building section-by-section, without having to wait for other parts to be finished. Fox, Henderson and Co took possession of the site in July 1850, and erected wooden hoardings which were constructed using
6030-472: The surrounding area, but secondly due to altitude decreasing towards the river, meaning the southern margins of south London are often a couple of degrees cooler than those areas adjacent to the Thames. Often snow can be seen to lie on the North Downs near Croydon when central London is snow free. The record high temperature at Greenwich is 37.5 °C (99.5 °F) recorded during August 2003. Sunshine
6120-481: The surrounding grounds, and two large transepts were added at either end of the main gallery. It was modified and enlarged so much that it extended beyond the boundary of Penge Place, which was also the boundary between Surrey and Kent . The reconstruction was recorded for posterity by Philip Henry Delamotte , and his photographs were widely disseminated in his published works. The Crystal Palace Company also commissioned Negretti and Zambra to produce stereographs of
6210-452: The then four distinct areas of London; in it he describes the City of London , Westminster (West London) , Southwark (South London) , and 'That Part Beyond the Tower' (East London) . The area now usually referred to as North London developed later. As late as the mid 18th century, however, there were no other bridges crossing the river and as a result urban growth was considerably slower in
6300-406: The timber that later became the floorboards of the finished building. More than 5,000 navvies worked on the building during its construction, with up to 2,000 on site at one time during the peak building phase. More than 1,000 iron columns supported 2,224 trellis girders and 30 miles of guttering, comprising 4,000 tons of iron in all. Firstly stakes were driven into the ground to roughly mark out
6390-594: The year of re-opening, 18 handbooks were published in the Crystal Palace Library by Bradbury and Evans as guides to the new installations. Many of these were written by the specialists involved in creating and curating the new displays. So the 1854 guide to the Egyptian Court, destroyed in the 1866 fire, was entitled: 'The Egyptian Court in the Crystal Palace. Described by Owen Jones, architect, and Joseph Bonomi , sculptor'. That which included
6480-464: Was 135 feet (41 m) high, with 772,784 square feet (71,794.0 m ) on the ground floor alone. The Great Exhibition was opened on 1 May 1851 by Queen Victoria. It was the first of the World's fair exhibitions of culture and industry. There were some 100,000 objects, displayed along more than ten miles, by over 15,000 contributors. Britain occupied half the display space inside with exhibits from
6570-452: Was 4 feet (1.2 m) long. By mirroring this triangle he obtained the 8-foot-wide (2.4 m) gables that formed the vertical faces at either end of the prism, each of which was 24 feet (7.3 m) long. With this arrangement, Paxton could glaze the entire roof surface with identical panes that did not need to be trimmed. Paxton placed three of these 8 feet (2.4 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m) roof units side-by-side, horizontally supported by
6660-542: Was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park , London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its 990,000-square-foot (92,000 m ) exhibition space to display examples of technology developed in the Industrial Revolution . Designed by Joseph Paxton ,
6750-460: Was able to design and build the largest glass structure yet created, from scratch, in less than a year, and complete it on schedule and on budget. He was even able to alter the design shortly before building began, adding a high, barrel-vaulted transept across the centre of the building, at 90 degrees to the main gallery, under which he was able to safely enclose several large elm trees that would otherwise have had to be felled—thereby also resolving
6840-502: Was appointed secretary. (His sister Eleanor Grove also worked for women's education.) It was a part of the great movements for educational and social reform in nineteenth century Britain. The main Crystal Palace buildings were destroyed by fire in 1936. The overwhelming majority of classes were for women: Classes for gentlemen were limited to the School of Engineering, later Crystal Palace School of Engineering 1872. The South Tower
6930-478: Was collected daily by a team of cleaning boys. Paxton also designed machines to sweep the floors at the end of each day. But in practice, it was found that the trailing skirts of the female visitors did the job well. Thanks to the considerable economies of scale Paxton was able to exploit, the manufacture and assembly of the building parts was exceedingly quick and cheap. Each module was identical, fully prefabricated, self-supporting, and fast and easy to erect. All of
7020-529: Was demolished in the early 1940s but a surviving part of the School of Engineering's premises is now the Crystal Palace Museum. The South Tower also contained John Logie Baird's transmitter and studios . The end of the Crystal Palace brings to mind memories of the School of Engineering which was housed in the South Tower, fortunately still standing firm as a rock. This school, founded by J. W. Wilson , M.I.M.E., an engineer who helped to build
7110-498: Was formed in 1899, which incorporated these boroughs south of the river: Wandsworth, Lambeth, Battersea, Camberwell, Southwark, Bermondsey, Deptford, Lewisham, Greenwich and Woolwich. During the first half of the 20th century, towns in the Home Counties such as Kingston, Croydon and Bromley gradually coalesced with South London, until Greater London was formed in 1965. A significant feature of south London's economic geography
7200-480: Was invited to take the lily to Chatsworth. It thrived under his care, and in 1849 he caused a sensation in the horticultural world when he succeeded in producing the first amazonica flowers to be grown in England. His daughter Alice was drawn for the newspapers, standing on one of the leaves. The lily and its house led directly to Paxton's design for the Crystal Palace. He later cited the huge ribbed floating leaves as
7290-430: Was known as the Crystal Palace pneumatic railway . Dozens of experts such as Matthew Digby Wyatt and Owen Jones were hired to create a series of courts that provided a narrative of the history of fine art. Amongst these were Augustus Pugin 's Mediaeval Court from the Great Exhibition, as well as courts illustrating Egyptian , Alhambra , Roman , Renaissance , Pompeian , and Grecian art and many others. During
7380-480: Was left open. Paxton also used longer trellis girders to create a clear span for the roof of the immense central gallery, which was 72 feet (22 m) wide and 1,800 feet (550 m) long. Paxton's roofing system incorporated his elegant solution to the problem of draining the building's vast roof area. Like the Chatsworth Lily House (but different to its later incarnation at Sydenham Hill), most of
7470-471: Was limited to six months, after which something had to be decided on the future of the Crystal Palace building. Against the wishes of parliamentary opponents, a consortium of eight businessmen, including Samuel Laing and Leo Schuster , who were both board members of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), formed a holding company and proposed that the edifice be taken down and relocated to
7560-516: Was originally erected in Hyde Park in London to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, which showcased the products of many countries throughout the world. The commission in charge of mounting the Great Exhibition was established in January 1850, and it was decided at the outset that the entire project would be funded by public subscription. An executive building committee was quickly formed to oversee
7650-405: Was redesigned and covered with a barrel-vaulted roof; the central transept was greatly enlarged and made even higher; the large arch of the main entrance was framed by a new facade and served by an imposing set of terraces and stairways. The building measured 1,608 feet (490 m) feet in length by 384 feet (117 m) feet across the transepts. The new building was elevated several metres above
7740-549: Was relocated to an open area of South London known as Penge Place which had been excised from Penge Common . It was rebuilt at the top of Penge Peak next to Sydenham Hill , an affluent suburb of large villas. It stood there from June 1854 until its destruction by fire in November 1936. The nearby residential area was renamed Crystal Palace after the landmark. This included the Crystal Palace Park that surrounds
7830-411: Was the first major application of his ridge-and-furrow roof design and was at the time the largest glass building in the world, covering around 28,000 square feet (2,600 m ). A decade later, taking advantage of the availability of the new cast plate glass , Paxton further developed his techniques with the Chatsworth Lily House, which featured a flat-roof version of the ridge-and-furrow glazing, and
7920-585: Was the ironwork contractor Fox and Henderson, whose director Charles Fox was also knighted for his contribution. The 900,000 square feet (84,000 m ) of glass was provided by the Chance Brothers glassworks in Smethwick. This was the only glassworks capable of fulfilling such a large order; it had to bring in labour from France to fulfil the order in time. The final dimensions were 1,848 feet (563 m) long by 456 feet (139 m) wide. The building
8010-451: Was to start with existing regions of England and then group the local authorities within that area into sub-regions for further sub-division. The south London sub-region included the 11 boroughs which lay south of the river, plus the parts of cross-river Richmond upon Thames that did so. An earlier 2013 study, whose recommendations were not adopted, took a different approach by including all of Richmond in its south London sub-region. For
8100-526: Was two stories high, with the upper floor stepped in from the boundary. Most of the building had a flat-profile roof, except for the central transept, which was covered by a 72-foot-wide (22 m) barrel-vaulted roof that stood 168 feet (51 m) high at the top of the arch. Both the flat-profile sections and the arched transept roof were constructed using the key element of Paxton's design: his patented ridge-and-furrow roofing system, which had first seen use at Chatsworth. The basic roofing unit, in essence, took
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