| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Crystal Palace |
For more information on Crystal Palace, visit Britannica.com.
| Music Encyclopedia: Crystal Palace |
Large iron-framed glass building erected in Hyde Park, London, for the 1851 Great Exhibition and moved to Sydenham in 1852. George Grove encouraged its use for music and appointed August Manns as conductor. It had the first permanent London orchestra which in 1855-1901 gave Saturday Concerts (Oct-April) at cheap prices. Other events included Handel festivals (mainly triennial, 1857-1926; forces ranged from c 600 to 4000), choral festivals and brass band contests. It burnt down in 1936.
| British History: Crystal Palace |
Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton to house the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851, it was itself the greatest success of the Exhibition. Paxton based it upon the lily house he had built at Chatsworth for the duke of Devonshire—a vast glass conservatory, dubbed the Crystal Palace by Punch. In 1852 the building was removed to Sydenham, where it was destroyed by fire in November 1936.
| Architecture: crystal palace |
1. An exhibition building constructed in large part of iron and glass in Hyde Park, London for the great exhibition of 1851.
2. Any exhibition building similarly constructed.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Crystal Palace |
| Fine Arts Dictionary: Crystal Palace |
A great exhibition hall built in London, England, in the middle of the nineteenth century. It was one of the first prefabricated buildings and one of the first buildings with large expanses of glass wall.
| Essay: The Crystal Palace |
Certain structures stand out in the history of architecture as the inspiration for whole schools of design and construction. Many of these, such as the Abbey Church of St. Denis, progenitor of the Gothic cathedral, continue to inspire to this day and are still physically available to students of architecture. None, however, has at the same time been so influential and so fleeting as the Crystal Palace of Joseph Paxton. Conceived between June 7 and July 26 in 1850, it was opened to the public on May 1, 1851, as the main building for the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London, an event often considered the first world's fair. After a highly successful run in Hyde Park at the Great Exhibition, the Crystal Palace was dismantled and re-erected two years later in south London, where it housed various exhibitions and events for another 72 years before being destroyed by fire. Nearly all of its architectural impact, however, came during its short stay at Hyde Park.
Paxton was primarily a gardener for large estates who had become involved in greenhouse design and construction. Many of the basic ideas for the giant Crystal Palace, which was as long as 18 football fields and as wide as 8, with another football-field wide addition on the side (9 times as long), came during the construction of much smaller greenhouses during the 20 years preceding. The two principal earlier greenhouses were erected for the duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth; they are important for their own sakes as well as for their influence on the Crystal Palace. The first, known as the Great Stove, was built between 1836 and 1841. Although a mere conservatory, the Great Stove actually had a span wider than that of London's familiar giant railway stations, which were built about the same time. The second Chatsworth building was a greenhouse designed to house a single plant, the giant Victoria Regia lily, which had been rediscovered by Europeans in 1832 and which the duke wished to bring to flower in England to present to the queen, for whom the plant had been named. (He succeeded in 1849, when Paxton's Victoria Regia Lily House was built; the plant produced 126 blooms during the following year.)
The Victoria Regia Lily House was, in some ways, a miniature Crystal Palace. Its main architectural features included a flat ridge-and-furrow roof and curtain-wall construction. The ridge-and-furrow roof, a series of sharp peaks and valleys, has not been much imitated, although the basic principles involved, such as a design that produces virtual beams, are still influential. Curtain walls, which were not used in their pure form in the Crystal Palace, became a hallmark of modern office construction, especially in the work of Mies van der Rohe. The curtain walls of the Victoria Regia Lily House were glass panes that hung from cantilevered girders. The hallmark of the curtain-wall system, introduced to modern office buildings in 1918, is that the outer skin of the building needs no supporting member. In the Crystal Palace itself the glass walls were hung but also supported by braces and columns.
The other architectural features of the Crystal Palace that came to influence modern architecture include the first system of portal bracing to counteract strong winds, needed because of the great size of the building; and the use of prefabricated modular units in construction, required to erect such a large building in just 17 weeks. As the Crystal Palace was the preeminent building of the Industrial Revolution, it is appropriate that it was also the first large freestanding building to use an iron frame (although much of the structure, including the columns framing the glass walls, was made from wood). The braces connecting columns to horizontal beams were iron, as were cross-braces used to strengthen the walls. The use of several different materials together in this way also became a hallmark of modern architecture. Finally, the Crystal Palace was among the first buildings to utilize prestressed members, in this case cast-iron beams.
Many of the statistics connected with the Crystal Palace remain astonishing today. It used 400 tons of glass, each 125-cm-sq (49-in.-sq) pane produced by blowing a cylinder, cutting it, and flattening it by reheating. With its modular construction, a team of 80 workers was able to install 18,932 panes in a week, resulting in a total surface array of glass of 85,000 m2 (900,000 sq ft). The glass was supported by 3300 cast-iron columns and held in place by 330 km (205 mi) of wood sash.
Similar buildings were erected in 1852 in Dublin, in 1853 in New York City, and in 1854 in Munich, all to house, as the original had, exhibitions of new technology. Later in the century, many of the first department stores in France, England, and the United States took elements from the Crystal Palace in the way that they displayed their wares. Another series of imitators, some of which are still in use, were city shopping arcades or galleries, in many ways the predecessors of today's suburban malls. It was not until the 20th century, however, that the principles of the Crystal Palace came to be common in buildings designed to be occupied for work or for living quarters. The essence of all 19th-century versions of the idea was display.
A barrier to erecting livable or workable versions of the Crystal Palace was that the Victorians, while they admired its utility and speed of construction, failed to recognize the architectural beauty of the building. It was just too strange. Architecture was still thought of primarily in terms of churches and great houses, built largely of stone. An insubstantial thing of glass, iron, and wood might serve a purpose, but no one would want to have such a giant greenhouse as an office and certainly not as a home.
| Wikipedia: The Crystal Palace |
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The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building 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 (92,000 m2) of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 108 feet (33 m).[1]
After the exhibition, the building was moved to a new park in a high, healthy and affluent area of London called Sydenham Hill, an area not much changed today from the well-heeled suburb full of large villas that it was during its Victorian heyday. The Crystal Palace was enlarged and stood in the area from 1854 to 1936, when it was destroyed by fire. It attracted many thousands of visitors from all levels of society. The name Crystal Palace (the satirical magazine Punch usually gets the credit for coining the phrase)[2] 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.
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The huge, modular wood,[3] 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.[4]
The Crystal Palace's creator, Joseph Paxton, was knighted in recognition of his work. Paxton had been the head gardener at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire. There he had experimented with glass and iron in the creation of large greenhouses, and had seen something of their strength and durability, knowledge that he applied to the plans for the Great Exhibition building. Planners had been looking for strength, durability, simplicity of construction and speed—and this they got from Paxton's ideas. 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 (8 m) tall Crystal Fountain. Sparrows became a nuisance; Queen Victoria mentioned this problem to the Duke of Wellington, who offered the famous solution, "Sparrowhawks, Ma'am".
The Crystal Palace was built by about 5,000 navvies (up to 2,000 on site at once).[5]
The ironwork contractors were Sir Charles Fox's Fox and Henderson. The 900,000 square feet (84,000 m²) of glass were 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. The final dimensions were 1,848 feet long by 456 feet wide. The building was 135 feet high, with 772,784 square feet on the ground floor alone.[6]
The Crystal Palace also featured the first public conveniences, the Retiring Rooms, in which sanitary engineer George Jennings installed his water closets. During the exhibition, 827,280 visitors paid one penny each to use them, and for this they got a clean seat, a towel, a comb and a shoe shine. This is the origin of the euphemism "to spend a penny".
The life of the Great Exhibition was limited to six months, after which, something had to be done with the building.[7] Against the wishes of Parliamentary opponents, the edifice was erected on a property named Penge Place that had been excised from Penge Common atop Sydenham Hill.[4] 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. Within two years, Queen Victoria again performed an opening ceremony. The new site hosted concerts, exhibits, and public entertainment.[4]
Several localities claim to be the area to which the building was relocated. The street address of the Crystal Palace was Sydenham S.E (SE26 after 1917), but the actual building and parklands were in Penge. At the time of relocation most of the buildings were in Croydon, as were the majority of 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: Crystal Palace High Level (an impressive building by Edward Barry), from which a subway under the Parade led directly to the entrance, and Crystal Palace Low Level station off Anerley Road. The Low Level Station is still in use at Crystal Palace railway station, and the remains of the High Level Station 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, which was known as the Crystal Palace pneumatic railway.
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 in 1954 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.
Joseph Paxton was first and foremost a gardener, and his layout of gardens, fountains, terraces and cascades 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 towers 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.
While the original palace cost £150,000, the relocation to Sydenham cost £1,300,000—burdening the company with a debt it never repaid,[8] partly because admission fees were depressed by the inability to cater for Sunday visitors: many people worked every day except the Sabbath,[9] when the Palace had always been closed.[10] 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.
However, the Palace was open on Sundays by May 1861, when there were 40,000 visitors on a Sunday alone.[11]
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 Earl of Plymouth purchased it, to save it from developers. A public subscription quickly re-purchased it for the nation.
During World War I, it was used as a naval training establishment under the name of HMS Victory VI, informally known as HMS Crystal Palace. More than 125,000 men from the Royal Naval Division, Royal Naval Volunteers and Royal Naval Air Force were trained for war at Victory VI.[12] At the cessation of hostilities it was re-opened as the first Imperial War Museum. In the 1920s, a board of trustees was set up under the guidance of manager Sir Henry Buckland. He is said to have been a firm but fair man, who had a great love for the Crystal Palace [13], and soon set about restoring the deteriorating building. The restoration not only brought visitors back, but also meant that the Palace started to make a small profit once more.[12] Buckland and his staff also worked on improving the fountains and gardens[14], including the Thursday evening displays of fireworks by Brocks.
Despite attempts to revive The Crystal Palace, on 30 November 1936 came the final catastrophe, fire. Within hours the Palace was destroyed: the flames lit up the night sky and were visible for miles. On the night of the fire Sir Henry Buckland and his daughter Chrystal (whom he named after the Palace)[verification needed] were walking their dog[verification needed] when they noticed smoke emerging from the Palace. They went nearer, and upon closer inspection came across two night watchmen trying to extinguish a small fire[15]. They were not able to extinguish the fire alone, so the local Penge fire brigade was called. Even though 89 fire engines and over 400 firemen [16] attended the site because of the number of flammable materials and windy weather that night they were unsuccessful. Buckland commented on the events saying “In a few hours we have seen the end of the Crystal Palace. Yet it will live in the memories not only of Englishmen, but the whole world”.[17] 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 had been used for tests by television pioneer John Logie Baird for his mechanical television experiments, and much of his work was destroyed in the fire.[18][19] Winston Churchill, on his way home from the House of Commons said, "This is the end of an age".
Life ran a three-page photo article on the fire, titled "London's Biggest Fire...", in the 21 December 1936 issue.
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 demolished with explosives in 1941;[20][21] the south tower was dismantled due to its proximity 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, and some of the race meetings were supported by the Greater London Council.The noise was not so popular with the nearby residents but the hours of racing were soon regulated with a high court judgment.[13]
Over the years a number of proposals for the former site of the Palace have failed to come to fruition. Currently, there are two rival plans. The London Development Agency wants to spend £67.5 million on developments to the park, including new houses and a regional sports centre. Recently, a private consortium has announced plans to rebuild Crystal Palace and use it to house galleries, a snow slope, music auditorium, leisure facilities and a hotel.[22]
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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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 | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Fine Arts Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Essay. History of Science and Technology, edited by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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