Main Interest
- 1851 Great Exhibition
- 1853 Crystal Palace accident
- 1855 & 1867 Expositions
- 1862 International Exhibition
- 1864 Rammell's pneumatic railway
- 1903 Motor show
- 1904 Motor Show
- 1908 Franco-British Exhibition
- 1908-1914 Great White City
- 1911 Coronation Exhibition
- 1911 Festival of Empire
- 1920 IWM & Great Victory Exhibition
- 1921 Poultry Show
- 1924 British Empire Exhibition
- 1930 Antwerp Exhibition
- 1936 Crystal Palace Fire
- 1937 Exposition Internationale
- 1938 Glasgow Exhibition
- 1951 Festival of Britain
- 1998-1999 anti multiplex protest
- 2000 Millennium Dome
- Aeronautics
- Alexandra Palace
- Anerley and Penge
- Art and architecture
- Beckenham
- Biographies & Works
- Camille Pissarro
- Children's books
- Circus
- Collecting
- Colouring & drawing
- CPF Publications
- Cricket and Bowling
- Croydon and Norbury
- Crystal Palace & area
- Crystal Palace Company & bankruptcy
- Crystal Palace police
- Crystal Palace School of Engineering
- Cycling
- Delamotte images
- Dinosaurs
- Dulwich & Kingswood House
- Edward Milner & gardening
- Emile Zola
- Exhibition history
- Family history
- Fireworks
- Football
- Girl Guides 75th anniversary
- Great North Wood
- Guide Books & Orienteering
- Ideal Home & South London exhibitions
- Infomart, Dallas, USA
- Isambard K. Brunel
- Maps of London
- Motor Sport
- Music & Religion
- North tower lift
- Norwood New Town
- Novels
- Original souvenirs
- Public transport
- Raffaele Monti
- Railways
- Rare & out of print
- Sport - other
- St. Joseph's College, Beulah Hill
- Steampunk collection
- Sydenham & Forest Hill
- Sydenham fire station
- Television history & John Logie Baird
- West Norwood and Cemetery
- World War One
- World War Two
Shop Services
People of the Palace |
by John Craddock
Much has been written about the Crystal Palace at Sydenham – its vast building, contents and grounds, its exhibitions and important visitors. However, comparatively little is known about the people who were employed by the Company and Trust over the century of their existence.
This book tells the story of the men who purchased the Palace, the workmen who lost their lives erecting the building and the directors, secretaries, managers, engineers and instructors of the Crystal Palace Company and their struggle to make the enterprise a going concern.
Sir Joseph Paxton was the presiding genius who got his wish of a larger building than its Great Exhibition parent. Set in 200 acres, Paxton designed impressive and vastly expensive water-works that were intended to rival those at Versailles. The water-towers however, were judged to be inadequate for the task so Isambard Kingdom Brunel was invited to re-design them.
As a result of this and other problems the required capital kept rising and Committees of Investigation recommended changes to the running of the Palace. After being defrauded by the Company registrar, instituting the post of general manager, the suicide of his successor, litigation with a rogue refreshments contractor and two bankruptcies, the Palace was ‘Saved for the Nation’ in 1914. After serving as ‘HMS Crystal Palace’ during the Great War, it was then put back on the road to prosperity by Henry Buckland who was knighted for his achievement. Then, in 1936, after the Palace had been thoroughly renovated it was destroyed by fire.
That was not the end of the story since the Trustees kept the enterprise going for another fifteen years when control of the site was handed over to the London County Council.
Today the site is nationally Listed at Grade II* but, whatever the future has in store, the People of the Palace with an appendix listing hundreds of Palace staff from 1852 to 1951, offers almost limitless possibilities for further investigation.
103 pages 112 portraits