The story of The Crystal Palace

A talk by Ian Gledhill for the Tennant Lecture Series

Thursday 9 June at 8.00pm

Ian Gledhill began his career as an engineer, but he now has over twenty years of experience of giving talks on a wide range of subjects, including the Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built to house the Great Exhibition. This took place in 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its 990,000 square feet of exhibition space. The building was three times the size of St Paul's Cathedral. Transported to Sydenham and rebuilt and enlarged, the Crystal Palace was Joseph Paxton's masterpiece, and was the largest iron and glass building ever constructed. It dominated the south London skyline for over 80 years, until its tragic destruction by fire in 1936. This is its story.