The Crystal Palace, which is now a residential area, took its name from the famous landmark that used to stand there. The original Crystal Palace was erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. After the exhibition, it was moved and rebuilt in an enlarged form. Since then it had attracted visitors, until it was destroyed by fire in 1936.
During the exhibition, over 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the cast-iron and plate-glass building to display examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. 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 the name ‘Crystal Palace’ was given. It was relocated next to Sydenham Hill, which is one of the highest points in London. The palace was destroyed by fire on 30 November 1936 and the site of the building and its grounds is now known as the Crystal Palace Park.
The Crystal Palace area still retains much of its impressive Victorian architecture, although housing styles are mixed, with Victorian terraces next to mid-war terraces, side by side with blocks of modern flats. The Crystal Palace Park is surrounded by grand Victorian villas, many of which have been converted into flats and apartments.
The Crystal Palace Park is a Victorian pleasure ground used for many cultural, patriotic and sporting events. Close to the site of the former Crystal Palace, in the former parkland is the National Sports Centre, which was opened in 1964. The complex hosts a 50-metre swimming pool and an athletic stadium, where international meetings take place.
The park is one of major London public parks and is also known for Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’s first life-sized models of the (then) newly-discovered dinosaurs and other extinct animals.