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The Palace was moved to Sydenham despite a spirited rearguard action by Paxton and his supporters to keep it in Hyde Park, in defiance of the undertaking that it would be removed after the Exhibition. A combine of railway interests and local landowners found a magnificent site at Penge which provided both a suitable position for a slightly enlarged and heated building, and a magnificent park. The intention was to couple education and entertainment in a commercial manner which would both finance the enterprise and reward the entrepreneurs, many of whom had been involved with the promotion of the Great Exhibition. Jones was sent abroad to obtain casts of great foreign monuments fom the Medici tombs and arabesques after Raphael to the temples of Abu Simbel on the Nile. The Fine Arts Courts included Greek, Roman and mediaeval courts, and the Alhambra Court was much admired by the Spanish-born Empress Eugénie of France on a royal visit in 1855. Many of the exhibits came from Hyde Park, including the ‘Greek Slave’ by Hiram Powers, and the ‘Amazon’, repelling a lioness, by Kiss from the Berlin Museum. Their fame did not avert a plea by highly placed ecclesiastics, led by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, for the provision of fig leaves to preserve public decency.
The grounds, dominated by Paxton’s ambitious fountains, for which special water towers were required, also provided a park, rather similar to the earlier Cremorne Gardens. However, even here enlightenment was provided, with the installation of life-size ‘Extinct Animals’ like iguanodons, based on the researches of Professor Richard Owen. These are one of the few original features to survive, as under commercial pressure much of the rest of the layout was converted to other uses. An Opera Theatre was installed, and under Sir George Grove and Augustus Mann concerts and the Handel Festivals came into being, balloon ascents and aeronautical displays followed. Within 40 years features like cycle tracks and football pitches made their appearance.
In 1911, the Palace and park were put up for sale, but were saved for the public by Lord Plymouth, who bought them, preserving the Palace from demolition and the park from development. It spent the 1914-18 war as the home of the Royal Naval Division, enjoying freedom from enemy attack apparently because of the value of the towers in guiding Zeppelins to central London. After the war, the Palace became the first home of the Imperial War Museum, and the building and grounds were restored. This impressive programme came to a disastrous end on 30 November 1936 when the building was destroyed by a fire which could be seen in Brighton. Even Brunel’s towers were later blown up as a dangerous landmark. After the second world war, the park was given to the LCC to manage.
These tributes make it clear that this great Victorian enterprise remains an asset to London, and its future, now again under discussion, could still be glorious.
Crystal Palace at Sydenham, an exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, runs until 18 April.
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