Testaments to the Boom Times to Come

[Testaments to the Boom Times to Come]

[andantegrazioso]

Crystal Palace | Eloy Gómez

[Testaments to the Boom Times to Come]

[earhat]

History Meme. 1/5 Places → The Crystal Palace, Hyde Park

The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and plate-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 Sir Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m).[1] Because of the recent invention of the cast plate glass method in 1848, which allowed for large sheets of cheap but strong glass, it was at the time the largest amount of glass ever seen in a building and astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights, thus a “Crystal Palace”.

After the exhibition, the building was rebuilt in an enlarged form on Penge Common next to Sydenham Hill, an affluent South London suburb full of large villas. It stood there from 1854 until its destruction by fire in 1936. [+more]

[Testaments to the Boom Times to Come]

[lostsplendor]

Paxton’s Crystal Palace, Sydenham c. 1851 via Wikimedia Commons

[Testaments to the Boom Times to Come]

[oupacademic]

This dashing Victorian may not be too recognisable, but today is Robert Paxton’s birthday. Paxton was responsible for the creation of the Crystal Palace, the enormous glass building that hosted one of the biggest events of the Victorian era: the Great Exhibition in 1851.

The Crystal Palace was novel, cheap, and won two prizes for the design and construction. Paxton and Charles Fox (the builder) were awarded knighthoods, and Prince Albert gave £5000 of the Exhibition’s profits to Paxton, who had waived his fee.

The Great Exhibition was attended by 6 million people – an amazing amount considering that the population of the UK at the time was only around 25 million.

Image credit: Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865), via Wikimedia Commons.

[wellntruly]

Robert Paxton! You were an exemplary dude.

Visiting the Crystal Palace remains Item No. 1 on my list of things I would do with a time machine. I think that would be a nice first activity. Reveling in the wonderment at humanity’s accomplishments and dreams, eating weird 19th-century snacks – good first day.