The Crystal Palace is designed by Joseph Paxton, the son of a farm labourer, as the venue for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park: a showcase for the wonders of world industry and culture. And it is a wonder in its own right, not least for being designed and constructed in less than nine months. Millions of visitors flock to marvel at the exhibits from around the world and Paxton is knighted by Queen Victoria. But by order of Parliament the building may only remain in Hyde Park for six months. There is public outcry at the loss of the palace, so Paxton seeks a new location. Meanwhile, the site in Sydenham that will become become the grounds of the new Crystal Palace is within the estate of the mansion Penge Place.

Paxton finds his site: an elevated location where the palace will be marvelled upon for many miles, on Sydenham Ridge in south London. The Crystal Palace is dismantled and rebuilt in enlarged form in its designated “permanent” home. The Palace grounds span 200 acres and are designed to complement the grandeur of the glass palace.

On 10 June, the remodelled Crystal Palace opens its doors to the public, becoming a popular destination for leisure and entertainment. The grounds of the Palace include beautifully landscaped gardens, fountains, and ornamental sculptures. The iconic life-sized dinosaur sculptures, created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, are the first attempt to depict these ancient creatures scientifically.

To commemorate the centenary of George Frideric Handel’s death, the Sacred Harmonic Society plans to perform some of his works on an epic scale. With a choir of 2000 and orchestra of 396, the Central Transept of the Crystal Palace is the only building in London large enough for the performance and the Crystal Palace thus holds its first ever festival. “The Great Handel Festival” will be held triennially until 1926.

The same year, Crystal Palace Park Cricket Ground is created.

The first recorded Crystal Palace football team plays on the cricket pitch inside the Palace grounds. (The amateur club will become one of the founding members of the Football Association in 1863, and compete in the first ever FA Cup competition in 1871–72, only to disappear from historical records around 1876.)

Jean Francois Gravelet, AKA Charles Blondin, the celebrated French tightrope walker and acrobat, makes his first appearance in London at the Crystal Palace, variously turning somersaults, walking on stilts and pushing a wheelbarrow across a rope stretched across the Central Transept, over 50m from the ground. Blondin’s wheelbarrow on one occasion bears his five-year-old daughter, who drops rose petals onto the audience below. The resulting press and public outcry leads the Home Secretary to order Blondin to refrain from placing her in such danger again. Charles Dickens comments, “Half of London is here eager for some dreadful accident”.

Image © Crystal Palace Foundation

The Palace suffers its first major fire, which devastates much of the north nave, which took two years to rebuild, and the transept, which, due to lack of money, was never rebuilt.

After a fire in 1866, which destroyed the north nave of the Crystal Palace, a new public attraction is built – the largest marine aquarium of the time, designed by the first professional aquarist William Alford Lloyd. The aquarium is popular, but is not a financial success.

The FA Cup Final is held at Crystal Palace Park. Aston Villa beat their midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion 1–0, with the winning goal scored after just 30 seconds: the ‘Crystal Palace thunderbolt’. The park would continue to host the Final until 1914, with attendances sometimes in excess of 100,000.

While crossing a road within the grounds of the Crystal Palace, Bridget Driscoll is killed after being struck by a car giving demonstration rides. A witness described the car as being driven at “a reckless pace, in fact, like a fire engine”. It is the first recorded case of a pedestrian death in a car accident in Great Britain, just weeks after a new Act of Parliament increased the speed limit for cars to 14mph, from 2mph in towns and 4mph in the countryside.

London County Cricket Club is formed by the Crystal Palace Company, with W.G. Grace as club secretary, manager and captain (he has an existing association with Crystal Palace, having won the 400-yard hurdles in the games of the National Olympian Association here in 1866). Grace moves into a neighbouring house and, in his inimitable style, has his own private entrance into the Palace grounds constructed. But Grace is in the twilight of his great career and despite the draw of his legend, London County is a drain in the Crystal Palace Company’s resources. It will play its final match in 1904.

Image: W.G. Grace in the colours of London County Cricket Club, by Albert Chevallier Tayler © CC0 via Wikimedia Commons

A big year for sport at the Crystal Palace grounds.

England play New Zealand’s Original All Blacks (also known simply as “The Originals”) at rugby for the first time at the old Crystal Palace ground on 2 December 1905. England were defeated but, the gate receipts from 45,000 supporters prompted England Rugby’s governing body, the RFU, to purchase their own ground in Twickenham. (Illustration by Edward Frank Gillette. All Black captain Dave Gallaher, wearing black at the opposite side of the scrum, can be clearly identified.)

Crystal Palace becomes a professional football club. The club uses the FA Cup Final stadium situated inside the grounds of the Palace for their home games between 1905 and 1915, when it is forced to leave due to the outbreak of the First World War.

At the first Scout Rally, a small group of girls attends and approaches Lord Robert Baden-Powell, asking that he set up ‘something for the girls’. As a result, the ‘Girl Guides’ was founded, with 6,000 girls registering over the following year.

The Festival of Empire is held at Crystal Palace – the biggest single event staged since the opening of the Palace in Sydenham. Shortly afterwards, the ‘Pageant Of London’, takes place during the summer and attracts more than a million visitors, on location of the present-day Crystal Palace Bowl. But despite the success of the year’s Festival and Pageant, the Crystal Palace Company does not generate enough money to remain viable. The Crystal Palace is put up for sale, leading the Lord Mayor of London to move a resolution that the building and its grounds should be acquired for the public.

The Palace becomes the property of the nation.

The Crystal Palace Act constitutes a body of Trustees in whom the control and management of the park “as a place for education and recreation and for the promotion of industry commerce and art”, is vested.

John Logie Baird’s company Baird Television Ltd leases 40,000 square feet under the Palace’s south transept, which over time expands to 60,000 square feet. Its studios, offices and laboratories are Europe’s most extensive television complex. A transmitter is later installed within the south tower, with aerials fitted at the top. So begins Crystal Palace’s association with television broadcasting.

A devastating fire engulfs the Crystal Palace on November 30, but despite the best efforts of 89 fire engines and over 400 firemen, it is devoured by the flames in a matter of hours. Fortunately no one dies. The cause of the fire is unknown. Whilst the loss of the Palace is a tragedy, it would quite possibly not have survived World War II and the blitz.

A motor racing circuit is opened at the park, remaining in use until 1972.

The park is used as a military base during World War II, including as a site for bomb damage rubble, returning to public use following the end of the war.

The Crystal Palace Trust was dissolved and responsibility for Crystal Palace Park passed to the London County Council.

The upper and lower terraces are listed as Grade II.

The first colour test transmissions began, using the new Crystal Palace Transmitter, which succeeded the original BBC transmitter at Alexandra Palace which broadcast the world’s first scheduled television service.

The Crystal Palace Bowl, a concert venue with a capacity of 25,000, opens. It becomes a popular spot for open-air music concerts, hosting legendary acts like Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones.

The Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, designed by the London County Council’s Architects Department under project architect Norman Engleback, is opened at a cost of approximately £2,750,000, It provides world-class sporting facilities including a 50-meter swimming pool and an athletics track.

The underground Subway, which was built as the entrance to the park for first-class rail passengers, is listed Grade II.

The dinosaurs and the Low Level Railway Station are listed Grade II.

The Crystal Palace Foundation is established to preserve and promote the historical significance of the Crystal Palace and its park.

The park and its management are transferred to the management of the London Borough of Bromley.

Crystal Palace Park becomes a Grade II* listed park, recognising its historical and architectural significance and the need for the protection and preservation of the park's unique features for future generations.

The Crystal Palace Museum was opened by the Duke of Devonshire after 11 years of fundraising by the Crystal Palace Foundation. During this time, thanks largely to generous donations from members of the public, many exhibits were acquired, classified and catalogued.

A new concert platform designed by Ian Ritchie Architects opens in the park’s Concert Bowl with a gala performance by Evelyn Glennie. The 25 x 15 metre stage can accommodate a full 120-piece orchestra. It is nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize and becomes known affectionately as the “Rusty Laptop”.

The Crystal Palace Campaign is established to oppose development plans at Crystal Palace Park. By 2001, the plans for a multiplex cinema have been successfully opposed and there are calls for the five local authorities surrounding the park (including Bromley) and local people to work together to plan a sustainable future for Crystal Palace Park.

The Friends of Crystal Palace Park, a volunteer group, is established to support the park through initiatives such as conservation projects, community events, and educational programs.

The dinosaurs are upgraded to Grade I. The London Development Agency develops a Masterplan for the park, costed at almost £70 million.

The Crystal Palace Subway, an architectural gem hidden beneath the park, reopens to the public as part of Open House London. This beautifully designed Victorian subway was originally used to transport visitors from the railway station to the Crystal Palace entrance.

The Crystal Palace Park Improvement Scheme commences, funded by a £2.4 million grant from the Mayor of London’s office. The project focuses on restoring key features of the park, improving accessibility, and enhancing the visitor experience.

Crystal Palace Park Trust is established with a view to taking on the management of the park. The Grade II-listed sphinxes are restored as part of the Park Improvement Scheme.

A new café and visitor centre opens in the park, designed by Chris Dyson Architects. The café is clad externally in half-round cedar shingles, conceived to be analogous to the scaled skin of the nearby dinosaur models. The centre provides a hub for community activities and serves as an occasional platform for local artists and designers to showcase their work.

Crystal Palace Park Trust officially becomes a charity, further solidifying its commitment to preserving and enhancing the park’s heritage. Despite – or perhaps because of – the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Crystal Palace Park remains a cherished outdoor space for the local community. People flock to the park to enjoy its green spaces, trails, and recreational facilities, providing solace and respite during difficult times.

On 15 September, the Trust secures a lease for the Crystal Palace site, granting us responsibility for managing and maintaining the park in the interests of the local community.

And the rest, with your help, will be history.