Introduction to the exhibition
The Crystal Palace was a large glass and iron structure originally built in 1851 for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. Prince Albert, along with Sir Henry Cole in the Society of Arts, brought together an exhibition to showcase Britain’s industrial achievements.

The exhibition took place from 1st May to 15th October 1851, with more than 990,000 square feet of exhibition space and over 14,000 exhibitors from around the world. There were four main categories of exhibits: raw materials, fine arts, machinery and manufacturing.

The exhibition was a huge success, and once it finished in October the lead designer Joseph Paxton had the idea to move it to Sydenham, South London. Rebuilding took approximately two years, with the new palace opening in June 1854. The new structure included landscaped grounds, with, a maze, cascades and large fountains supplied by two iconic water towers designed by Brunel.

The new palace became a hotspot for entertainment, sporting events and concerts. Part of the gardens included a prehistoric area with model prehistoric creatures, sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. These sculptures, although out of date by modern standards, were the first of their kind to replicate paleontological discovers on a large scale.

In 1936 the Crystal Palace burnt down but the legacy of the structure lives on within the remnants of the terracing, the landscape of the former grounds, now Crystal Palace Park, and the buildings which followed within the park. The Crystal Palace Virtual Tour explores this powerful legacy through case studies of Terraces, Crystal Palace Bowl and National Sports Centre. While the tour is based around the history of these structures we also look at the people and activities that have continued to thrive.

Retreat
Retreat is a photographic collaboration between Amy Elyse Stringer and Matthew White. The work consists of double exposures taken on various box brownie cameras c.1920.

“We reside in the same household and all images were taken during our daily exercise around Crystal Palace Park. The work allowed us to remain creative and take what was essentially a repetitive daily routine and turn it into something unknown and interesting. We each shot a roll, rewound the film and shot over each others film the following day, creating double exposures.

Developing the film at home a few days later not only meant we could work in isolation of other parties, we also had the excitement of discovering the results together, where some frames came together beautifully, some frames did not. The work has given us a sense of anticipation we were lacking whilst on lockdown.”

We would like to say a big thank you to:

London Festival of Architecture for allowing us to be part of their fantastic inaugural Digital Festival! Their promotion and support has been wonderful!

Joseph Robson and Jacky Jubert at AVR London and Anise Gallery for supporting us along the way and helping us build the tour.

Oliver Marshall at Crystal Palace Bowl who has provided us with such rich imagery and text as well as support.

Dennis Gilbert who has kindly let us use two of his fantastic images of Ian Ritchie Architects stage at the bowl.

John East for always pointing us in the right direction!

James O. Davies at Historic England whose stunning image of the interior of the National Sports Centre provides a glimpse at what we’re missing right now.