June Group Meeting Report
Ian Bevan enthralled us this month with his “tour through 150 years of the history of the Crystal Palace in 45 minutes”. Fascinating photos, illustrations and film of the original building in Hyde Park, constructed for the 1851 Great Exhibition, and its successor in South London, served to show what a magnificent feat of enterprise, engineering and vision this was in Victorian times.
Queen Victoria opened the original building on 1st May 1851 in front of 25,000 guests plus at least one uninvited Chinese sailor. Over the next 6 months, 6 million visitors enjoyed the exhibits designed to give a flavour of manufacturing and trade from across the world. These even included a stuffed elephant wheeled in from Saffron Walden in Essex to enhance the Indian section – unfortunately it was of the African species and had to have its ears covered! Other exhibits included a machine that could produce 60 envelopes in a minute, a knife with 86 blades, an inflatable rubber boat and power looms from the mills of Northern England which fascinated the more refined Southerners.
The Exhibition ran for 6 months and made £186,000 in profit which went on to fund the building of the museums of South Kensington and still funds projects today.
The end of the Great Exhibition was not to be the end of the Glass Palace. Original architect Joseph Paxton and a group of friends bought the building and decided to move it to South London to create a ‘theme park for the masses’. Sydenham Hill with its height, slopes and access to the London Brighton and South Coast Railway to bring in the crowds proved the ideal place. Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed spectacular fountains, 6,000 Irish navvies were employed to complete the work and on 10th June 1854 Queen Victoria performed the opening ceremony. For the entry cost of 1 shilling and 2d for a programme, visitors could enjoy a full day of cultural sights and new experiences such as going up 200 feet in a tethered hot air balloon to view the whole of London, daredevil acts, sporting events and concerts. The day would end with a spectacular firework display.
Unfortunately, the attraction never achieved financial success and in the 1920’s was sold to the Nation for £1. Attempts were made to relaunch with more down to earth attractions such as dog and cat shows but this was brought to an end when the whole site was destroyed by fire on 30th November 1936 watched by a crowd of 100,000.
Remnants of the glory days of the site remain – sections of the terracing, the famous dinosaurs and some of the statues. An exhibition is open on Sundays www.crystalpalacemuseum.org.uk.
Ann Hollands
Group Secretary
Ian Bevan enthralled us this month with his “tour through 150 years of the history of the Crystal Palace in 45 minutes”. Fascinating photos, illustrations and film of the original building in Hyde Park, constructed for the 1851 Great Exhibition, and its successor in South London, served to show what a magnificent feat of enterprise, engineering and vision this was in Victorian times.
Queen Victoria opened the original building on 1st May 1851 in front of 25,000 guests plus at least one uninvited Chinese sailor. Over the next 6 months, 6 million visitors enjoyed the exhibits designed to give a flavour of manufacturing and trade from across the world. These even included a stuffed elephant wheeled in from Saffron Walden in Essex to enhance the Indian section – unfortunately it was of the African species and had to have its ears covered! Other exhibits included a machine that could produce 60 envelopes in a minute, a knife with 86 blades, an inflatable rubber boat and power looms from the mills of Northern England which fascinated the more refined Southerners.
The Exhibition ran for 6 months and made £186,000 in profit which went on to fund the building of the museums of South Kensington and still funds projects today.
The end of the Great Exhibition was not to be the end of the Glass Palace. Original architect Joseph Paxton and a group of friends bought the building and decided to move it to South London to create a ‘theme park for the masses’. Sydenham Hill with its height, slopes and access to the London Brighton and South Coast Railway to bring in the crowds proved the ideal place. Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed spectacular fountains, 6,000 Irish navvies were employed to complete the work and on 10th June 1854 Queen Victoria performed the opening ceremony. For the entry cost of 1 shilling and 2d for a programme, visitors could enjoy a full day of cultural sights and new experiences such as going up 200 feet in a tethered hot air balloon to view the whole of London, daredevil acts, sporting events and concerts. The day would end with a spectacular firework display.
Unfortunately, the attraction never achieved financial success and in the 1920’s was sold to the Nation for £1. Attempts were made to relaunch with more down to earth attractions such as dog and cat shows but this was brought to an end when the whole site was destroyed by fire on 30th November 1936 watched by a crowd of 100,000.
Remnants of the glory days of the site remain – sections of the terracing, the famous dinosaurs and some of the statues. An exhibition is open on Sundays www.crystalpalacemuseum.org.uk.
Ann Hollands
Group Secretary