Amazing Places In London That You Can't Visit: The Crystal Palace

[@Shenanigans_333]

I live near Crystal Palace, they actually named the nearby town after it! I can confirm, it is just a massive flat bit of grass that kids play football on and eat fried chicken, my friends and I visit after school sometimes.
But If you ask me, Crystal Palace park is still a great place to explore if you’re a history nerd in South London!
-There’s a section of the park with a massive sports stadium, olympic level swimming pool
-There’s a museum dedicated to the history of the park (it’s more often closed than it is open sadly)
- There’s these infamous yet hilarious models of what the Victorians believed dinosaurs looked like
-Theres a giant, floating, metal water stage that used to host artists like Bob Marley in the 80’s
- There’s a small farm, and agricultural collage
-At Christmas, there’s a park-wide light show where they construct a recreation of what the palace would have looked like, and they project things onto it
-There’s a hedge maze & pedal-os

[@_AceInTheHole_]

I remember Tom Scott doing a video on the Crystal Palace Park dinosaurs, which was really funny because I grew up in Crystal Palace.

[@sshoback84]

My bff's little sister had a huge love for the dinosaurs at the park, so we'd be there almost every weekend! - her dad worked/volunteered at the museum. In the summer we used to have a 'Victorian day' is all I can remember that we called it, I was about 13 lol. So there was a large cast of Victorians getting their pictures taken with kids and their families 😄 we loved spending parts of our summer holidays 'living' in the Victorian Era 😃❤

[@kikidevine694]

Don't forget Guy the Gorilla, and the wild parakeets

[@Sweetlyfe]

@@sshoback84That sounds like lots of fun.

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Aww

[@starlinguk]

If you want to see Ninive now, you can go to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

[@NotaBurnerac-iv6pp]

only for a few more days!

[@StinkyGringo]

Pokemon? Lame

[@pcbassoon3892]

Is it the same recreation that was in the Great Exhibition?

[@starlinguk]

​@@NotaBurnerac-iv6ppYup, it shuts in October! I'm going for the last time on Wednesday. They're back in 2025 (partially anyway).

[@kashigata]

The Pergamon is the greatest museum I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to dozens!

[@gypsydildopunks7083]

Always wondered why a football team is named Crystal Palace. Thanks, British Lady. You are the best

[@cantbothernaming]

After the building burnt down the area was called crystal palace, and the football team was named crystal palace after (it's not even in crystal palace it's in south Norwood) - a local

[@pcbassoon3892]

I went to London last year and the first thing I wanted to see when we started planning was the Crystal Palace. I googled it to see where it was and was disappointed to find it had burned down almost 90 years ago. Then, I told my dad we were going and he immediately said, "I know where you need to go! Prince Albert had this big exhibition..." It's a shame it didn't survive. I think tons of people would still want to see it today.

[@60secondpages]

I think we should rebuild it, you and me, what say you?

[@mosalacommodore6993]

Guess you gotta settle for watching crystal palace be mediocre to decent on a football pitch instead 😂 🦅

[@kikidevine694]

There's also a (to our eyes) bizarre collection of dinosaur sculptures in the park. At the time they were created they were based on cutting edge research.

[@chrisz7494]

Were the dinos built in the time of the actual crystal palace? I loved seeing the dinos! Added a lot of personality to an otherwise standard London park

[@TastingHistory]

They were so large that they once held a dinner for 20+ people in one.

[@EVILBUNNY28]

Which are now also grade listed, so cannot be removed

[@helloworld2409]

in my mind, crystal palace is synonomous with those statues. as a huge dino nerd, the crystal palace iguanodon is iconic

[@helenhobbs5472]

​@@TastingHistoryyou dhould host a dinner in one with 20 history UA-camrs. Make a dish from the original expo.😋

[@SonsOfLorgar]

The style of glass house construction used in the crystal palace, is however, represented in a smaller scale, as the main greenhouses of the Royal botanic gardens at Kew 😁

[@hungariangiraffe6361]

Oh god, I once visited London and the Kew Gardens were the main reason why I went. I'm a teen and when I grow up I want to work as a botanist there, it's an amazing place.

[@SonsOfLorgar]

​@@hungariangiraffe6361 I and my spouse (back then fiancé) got recomended Kew Gardens as a place of interest when we were planning a vacation roundtrip to France and England, so we made it one of our planned stops in London.
I've never been more jealous of a frog than when we saw the giant water lilies at Kew 😂

[@hungariangiraffe6361]

@@SonsOfLorgar 😂 yes, they were one of my favourites there as well.

[@pulaski1]

Paxton who built Crystal Palace also built a massive glass house 11 years earlier, in 1840, at Chatsworth. It wasn't as big as the Crystal Palace, but was too expensive to restore and maintain and was demolished in 1920.

[@pulaski1]

​@hungariangiraffe6361 A friend of my parents was "the Keeper of the Herbarium" (the dried and pressed specimens research collection) at Kew Gardens, and the job came with the right to live in the house to the left of the main entrance to the gardens.
When we visited we were able to go out through the back garden gate into Kew Gardens when they were closed to the public. 😀

[@rodpope7838]

Very sad that we can no longer witness this amazing building

[@mary-janereallynotsarah684]

"Hey u know what would be a great place to visit? The Crystal Palace! It's massive!"
"Let's go!"
"Oh we can't. It's in the past."

[@juango500]

Doctor! Could you pop us back in to 1920?

[@jpthomas9491]

There's a replica of the Crystal Palace in Dallas, TX for some reason. It's next to the freeway and it's a commercial building.

[@kippy7883]

I thought these pictures looked familiar!

[@maryssalynnemedley8871]

Yes there is! I'm a drw native and my grandpa, who's a history teacher, told me all about it.

[@MrLukejstephens]

There’s also a replica in Gothenburg, they use it as a greenhouse in a park. If you go there in the winter and are looking for a place to warm up I recommend it.

[@yeetjones927]

TX?

[@thegrassguy2871]

Reminds me of China's replica of the Yuanmingyuan in Zhuhai for some reason

[@courteouscarpenter7811]

I came across pictures of this when I was in high school just searching old places this random in all Google search and this is one of the places that made me fall in love with architecture. I actually went to college study civil engineering didn't work out but because of stuff like this. Absolutely astonishing building

[@uncletiggermclaren7592]

Life is long, friend. Find a job where you can take extra-mural study in the field, and keep learning, you are going to be alive for decades !.

[@limerence8365]

I love victorian glass buildings. If i ever get to build a mansion one half will cool old style gothic manor, the other half will be a giant glass building filled with plants and multi tiered swimming pools. There will be a glass dome or several where you can stargaze or sleep and don't have to worry about getting rained on.

[@kashigata]

I used to live in West Norwood, so close to Crystal Palace. It kills me that the bloody palace wasn’t there any more. I did love the Crystal Palace dinosaurs, though!

[@OhSkyeLanta]

I feel like there’s a pretty good mystery novel in there about “how the crystal palace burned down”

[@wingedfish1175]

If I recall theres some conspiracy about it being burned down to hamper the invention of TV

[@icarusbinns3156]

Why you always cover crystal balls?

[@OhSkyeLanta]

@@icarusbinns3156 gooood point 😬 hadn’t thought about that and I should have 🌞 🔎 🔥
Also can anyone else not see the other comment on this post or so I just have them blocked?? 👀

[@pulaski1]

Eleven years earlier Paxton built a similar, massive glass house at Chatsworth, though it was smaller than the Crystal Palace. It was demolished in 1920 because it had been unheated during WWI, many of the plants had died, and was deemed too expensive to restore and maintain.

[@doctorwhouse3881]

The funny thing about shorts getting uploaded out of order from TT is we got Part 1 after 2.
That or J. is a Star War's fan.😅

[@eldritchteletubby9319]

I was gonna say, i was positive I'd seen part 2 of this!

[@ambergris5705]

I wish Crystal Palace would be rebuilt. It's an amazing feat of engineering, would still look incredible today, and I am sure would bring a lot of tourists!

[@stevena488]

Could have been worse. Could have burned down, fallen over THEN sank into the swamp.

[@TCHorwood-xq7mw]

don't sing!

[@StinkyGringo]

Stupid cheeseburger avatar. Now I'm hungry and everything is closed.

[@StinkyGringo]

​@@TCHorwood-xq7mwor throw stones

[@peterstangl8295]

Ni!

[@kikidevine694]

But they could have rebuilt it.....

[@seandyckhoff7063]

I really love this ladies videos, I love history and especially history in London where I live

[@amandah2866]

That's amazing! I love that they built around whole trees, that's fantastic!

[@spyk_]

That odd statue and big flat bit of grass are part of a very nice park thank you very much

[@markman278]

I have a antique wall clock in my house that has a photo of the crystal palace on it. Helps to quickly get an idea of the age

[@texan01]

There is a replica of the Crystal Palace in Dallas Texas, named the Infomart.

[@shawnmorris4479]

They used to have murals on the first floor that explained the history of the Crystal Palace.

[@SewingandCaring]

My grandpa lived overlooking the Crystal Palace, and on his way home from work at night he heard bells, looked over and saw the first flames. He and all his neighbours brought out chairs and watched it burn. Will sound more morbid today than it was at the time, as this was before the blitz londoners would never have seen anything like it before.

[@franzfanz]

I'd love to see it rebuilt. I'm not sure what you'd put it in these days, though.

[@vo8362]

Anyone wanting to experience it- head to the Royal Opera House. The Paul Hamlyn hall was modelled after it in the mid 1800s, there’s a lovely bar there now and it’s a great excuse to catch a performance. It was damaged in a fire a bit later but has since been restored, although some of it was relocated to be the frontage of Borough Market. Love, your local opera nerd 🤓

[@glitchyghosting5798]

Winston Churchill was in the crowd of around 100,000 people watching it burn down, he said "This is the end of an age"
Sir Henry Buckland who was on the Board of trustees and was walking his dog nearby when he saw the glow of the initial fire taking place said afterwards "In a few hours we have seen the end of Crystal Palace. Yet it will live on in the memories not only of Englishmen, but the whole world".

[@Abdul-Akeem_Akinloye]

It will definitely live in mine.

[@bertrach]

I was astonished to read about the original plan for the old wembley stadium... would love a deep dive on that.

[@baditude41]

This truly broke my heart, but I'm glad you've shared it with us.

[@kieferonline]

Im an architect in the US and I appreciate this building for it being the one of the first buildings to use mass produced, interchangeable parts (if you don't count bricks).
There's a very interesting sub-story for this building: The UK wanted to build the largest building in an absurdly short timeframe. All other designs would have taken many years. Instead, a man known as a gardener, Joseph Paxton, proposed a scaled up version of his own techniques for greenhouses.

[@Strutability]

Looks beautiful 😍 I wish they would rebuild it

[@sierrab5010]

I have fantasized about going back in time and seeing the world fair there since I was a kid!

[@nimnimn6930]

Was expecting like 1 bomb to do it in during ww1 or 2 but this one's definitely got more of a london flare

[@blindbrad4719]

Winston Churchill had it burned down so that the Germans couldn't use its reflection to pinpoint where they were.

[@StrawberryAqua]

I recently learned of this from Bill Bryson’s “At Home.” It was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, who was a gardener and self-taught landscape architect (all architects back then were self-taught). He had experience designing and building greenhouses

[@unitedgeekdom1]

Please bring up this in a series about the Worlds Fair! This building was the start of them.

[@gordonferrar7782]

I would love to have seen it.

[@Mathemagical55]

Congrats on 500K subscribers!

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

The scale of the Great Exhibition and particularly the Crystal Palace has always completely blown my mind... Esp. given it was constructed with Victorian era manufacturing & construction technology! If Londoners ever decide to reconstruct it as a museum or similar, it'd be absolutely stunning... (albeit incredibly difficult to clean and maintain, I imagine?)

[@user-oj5bw7sl8p]

What an interesting video! Thank you so much!

[@ramrod132]

Neat! It does beg the question how a glass building burns down.

[@StinkyGringo]

How do you think they make glass? Lol

[@kikidevine694]

Skill.

[@katelights]

it was full of burnable stuff.

[@HighFell]

Fire can take anything out, Twin Towers fell victim to fire, not the jet fuel but the water on molten aluminium, it’s essentially how rockets get into space, a whole load of energy released, steel/concrete/glass has no chance

[@deanorr5378]

We have one of the few remaining Crystal Palace scale replicas left in the world in Picton, Ontario, Canada. Built in 1890, modeled after the original, except built of a wood structure, it still stands on the fairgrounds and is used. Worth a visit, or at least a google!

[@tomasjallen]

This is one of the first places I would visit as a time traveller.

[@vibe_oli]

As an Assyrian I would have absolutely loved to see the mock up of Nineveh. ❤ I looks amazing.

[@genstian]

Sounds like it needs to be rebuilt even bigger. That place sounds like the go to experience

[@vehk9377]

Maybe it should tell the future this time. To begin guaranteed events. That'd be pretty sick I think.

[@SmilingIbis]

I'm just shocked that Dostoevsky didn't smash it to bits just to show he was still human.

[@heronimousbrapson863]

I'm always at a loss to understand how a building made of glass can burn down...

[@reachandler3655]

The interior exhibits would burn, the heat would cause the glass to shatter or even melt, and would weaken the frames causing warping and collapse.

[@ac1646]

🤣🤣

[@Vonononie]

Floor was made of wooden planks. Dust and dirty had accumulated in the gaps over the years too. In its final years before the fire CP wasn’t in great condition, it’s glory days were long behind it

[@l.acosta4739]

Flooring + curtains + exhibition materials + old dirt (too much wood in the dust)

[@tomlxyz]

A building full of glass is great at drying out all the wood inside, making it excellent nothing burning material

[@tonymurphy2624]

The Great Exhibition was an example of Prince Albert being the last useful royal. He was massive on innovation, and was the primary driver of this exhibition and the construction of the palace.

[@ZCarsMuppets]

My great-grandfather (1915-1985) was there, he saw the palace being burnt down, the story has been passed down the generations!

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

There was also an exhibit inside that had a very accurate representation of the globe including all the mountain ranges and oceans, it was an inverted globe so you could walk inside the earth and look around to see all the continents

[@carolinekennedy9552]

I love this series!

[@uncletiggermclaren7592]

Most people don't understand what a VAST process making that much plate glass represented in the 1850s.
It was a triumph of British Engineering, no other Nation in the world could have matched it in the time it took to build. Probably no other Nation COULD have built it.

[@robertgronewold3326]

Almost 90 years on and you still have people half heartedly contemplating rebuilding it. If WW2 hadn't happened I imagine they would have got to it almost straight away.

[@lightgreen3479]

Fascinating. This building's history is nearly identical to that of the Austrian Rotunde

[@PJ19596]

Exhibitions and attempts like these to inspire awe in people by using science and technology is sonething I hope we humans always continue to do. I think it goes a great way to envigorate people and make them excited about the future

[@sharronneedles6721]

They still happened yk? It's just not as centralized. Every different industry has their own expo, you just have to find it.

[@HighFell]

Crystal Palace, a genuine wonder of its time and how we progressed, FF to year 2000…. A big tent, paid for by the entire country but sited in London, then sold off cheap to ‘Friends of the Labour Party’ (The Govt of the time)
What was impressive about the Victorian’s vision was not only was it so incredible that even today jaws would drop at the building and it’s displays, but they moved it so it would live on! The name alone makes you want to visit 😁

[@PhoebeFayRuthLouise]

I would have loved to see this!

[@CharlieQuinn2772]

This has always been one of my favourite buildings!! Also unfortunately my saddest as I'll never get to see it but i honestly have always dreamed about it

[@alext6933]

Feels like so much stuff burned down.

[@the_royal_frick634]

At first I was like, "oh wowww a whole building made of glass!?". Then I remembered that's basically every building in the city.

[@josephkarl2061]

Y'know, for all the hazards and problems that part of history presented, I'd have loved to have been alive to go to the Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition. I'm sure my 19th century mind would have been blown in every direction 😄

[@bobmcbob49]

"it got destroyed during the depression"
-summary of most cool things built in the 1800s and 1910s

[@stevenjack6283]

The fact that I'm just now hearing about this, and the fact that I will never be able to see it in person make me sad.

[@PhoebeHB]

I remember learning about crystal palace in primary school and doing a whole project about the building and all the exhibitions it housed and then we went on a school trip there and.... It was just a park. As an adult I can appreciate it's a very nice park, but man I was so disappointed as a kid.

[@charliekezza]

It would have been an absolutely fabulous building alone and then there's all the exhibits 😊

[@riot_cats]

Of all the things the world has lost, this one is up there for one of the biggest losses.
What an incredible feat for the time.
I'd love to see it now.
Damned fires.

[@martov4330]

The old railway station is still there and is currently being renovated for visitors!
The lake also has a very big significance since it was built around the dinosaurs, when pumps would carry the water uphill for the massive fountains the water level would lower and reveal the different types rock sediment.

[@eduardos.c.desouza8895]

I thought the answer to "why you can't visit" would be "it got destroyed in the blitz". But honestly, this giant glass building would not have survived the blitz if it had lasted until then.

[@Squid-Flaps]

Fun fact: they built a replica in dallas, Texas, with a less impressive name of "the Infomart". According to Wikipedia: It is also one of the most digitally connected buildings in the world, with over 8,700 strands of fiber optic cabling.

[@alexthezephyr]

Here in Brazil, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in the city of Petrópolis, we also have a crystal palace, it's a lot smaller tho

[@longbeing]

I think it’s interesting how temporary those world’s fairs/expositions were, whether that was intended or not. The only remaining building from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair is the Museum of Science and Industry.

[@wpatrickw2012]

They ought to rebuild it. It would be on the top of my go see list.

[@samanthaclements5901]

Waterlillies which are heavily veined on the reverse were some of the inspiration for some of the windows I think you can see this in Kew

[@waynehighfield2094]

Think your short vids are V interesting!
Make longer vids please!!
👍

[@paveloleynikov4715]

Fun fact - I added your long video about it to "Watch later" playlist yesterday. What a coincedence.

[@daicon2k6]

This is the saddest video in this series, to me. The story of how it burned down is just heartbreaking. You can still go to see the Grand Palais in Paris, which is sort of kind of the sister structure to the Crystal Palace.

[@thomasjames7568]

Sounds like a lovely place for a DIY skatepark to crop up.

[@rat_king-]

JDraper punches me in the feels.. this is what i wish the NEC was..

[@TCHorwood-xq7mw]

"You can't visit"
*laughs in Galafreyan*

[@reachandler3655]

👍🤣

[@kafkollectif525]

Tartaria is a really fun rabbit hole✨

[@groom_of_the_stools]

Coincidence here! I am working on my PhD in public history/museum administration. In my decorative arts class tonight, our discussion is on the Crystal Palace and how it was based on the Alhambra in Istanbul, not Constantinople (been a long time gone).

[@lsedge7280]

They did in fact have an electric light exhibition at the Crystal Palace right as electric lighting was being...invented. So not only did you get all the light in the building BEFORE lights, but also for the first time, WITH electric lights.

[@MTTT1234]

Somebody suggested that after the exhibition was done, they should rearanged all the steel and metal framing to form a 100 meter tall skyscraper, made out purely from metall and glass. Though I doubt that in the mid 19th century they would have been able to pull that off, or if the metall would have been strong enough to carry its own weight.

[@tavikanen]

I’m REALLY amazed that the Crystal Palace hasn’t been rebuilt!?!? I mean, they could start off with a *NEW* Crystal Palace and invite new exhibitors and displays - maybe even do it once a year regularly - then they could have replicas of the old original displays the rest of the year!

[@Pugiron]

The Infomart in Dallas was inspired by the Crystal Palace and is even bigger.

[@davidgillies620]

My mother told me you could see the glow of the fire from Worthing on the South Downs.

[@connor8786]

My great grandfather stood on a hill and watched it burn down when he was a little boy

[@angrydurian814]

You're underrated ❤

[@jameskelly5604]

There is a replica of the Crystal Palace in downtown Fort Worth every time I drive by it I tell my kids look at that

[@AstronautSPIta]

Some friends of mine got married in Crystal Palace park and put the dinos on the invitation, so cute. I also have a picture of the Crystal Palace dinos framed and hanging over my toilet

[@NoNameNoFace-rr7li]

im not much interested in tourist areas but would love to visit london with someone who has spent their life their and see real london..

[@newperve]

The Great Exhibitions Japanese exhibit was about all Gilbert (of & Sullivan fame) knew about Japan before writing 'The Mikado'

[@darkfoxfurre]

Hahahahahaha I was sitting here thinking about what a fire hazard all of that glass would be. That story had a great ending.

[@Talos827]

Reminds me of the "Rotunde" in my home town of? It was supposed to become the 8th World Wonder built in 1873 burned down in 1937.

[@isaacschmitt4803]

"Big 'ol glass building!"
"What happened to it?"
"Burned down, innit?"

[@eliscerebralrecyclingbin7812]

Wow

[@jenniferhanses]

Um. If it's burned down, then I don't feel it's actually "in London" anymore. "In London" implies that at least part of it is still standing and I *could* walk through it if something else were not a factor.

[@mihael64]

They should really bring stuff like that back

[@dawnvega383]

Albert had the dream…..it was amazing’

[@evancrum6811]

That would be so amazing now

[@ttvrs1059]

Porto, Portugal also had a Crystal Palace - sadly it was torn down...

[@catsend]

Our world petroleum expo building is on our fairgrounds and we use it for meetings and events. Part is small shops. I used to go to Star Trek conventions there. There’s a giant statue of a roughneck standing next to an oil Derrick in front. They like to decorate him. Spock ears, leis, so on

[@LeoDas688]

There is nothing humans can't achieve if we put our mind into it, almost anything