Missing Steps At Crystal Palace

Konqi · Post by **Konqi** » 21 Jun 2009 18:37

I realised that the South Wing is not in the "Pleasure Garden" because it was burnt down in 1950 and the film was made 2/3 years later.

In this image you can see some steps to the terminal building of it:

In this still from the film you can see the same stairs but no building:

Chelsey · Post by **Chelsey** » 21 Jun 2009 19:32

That's fantastic , do you have any other interesting screengrabs ?

Many Many Thanks
Chelsey

Konqi · Post by **Konqi** » 22 Jun 2009 14:24

only other still I have grabbed is this one:

This is what remained of the aquarium and the north side steps at the time.

Chelsey · Post by **Chelsey** » 22 Jun 2009 17:14

So it looks like the best part of the Aquarium was built over , such a shame some of the remaining parts of the Palace were just cleared away , as there is so little of the metal structure of the building left . But that is a great pic none the less....

Very Many Thanks
Chelsey

Chelsey · Post by **Chelsey** » 23 Jul 2009 04:40

Hi There
Does anyone know when the " Pleasure Garden " is released

Thanks
Chelsey

Chris Doran · Post by **Chris Doran** » 24 Jul 2009 00:02

It's available now on DVD from The Crystal Palace Foundation. Copies on VHS appear on eBay etc. from time to time. The plot (if there is one) is a bit incomprehensible, but the views are everything this thread leads you to expect.

Melvyn Harrison · Post by **Melvyn Harrison** » 25 Jul 2009 12:41

Chelsey wrote:That would certainly explain why i couldn't find it

Many Thanks
Chelsey

The Crystal Palace section of the film appears on the "The Crystal Palace is on Fire!" DVD produced by the Crystal Palace Foundation at £14.95. Available by mail order from www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk

Melvyn Harrison · Post by **Melvyn Harrison** » 25 Jul 2009 12:45

Chelsey wrote:Hi There
Does anyone know when the " Pleasure Garden " is released

Thanks
Chelsey

The Pleasure Garden and The Phoenix Tower DVD produced by the Crystal Palace Foundation is now available at £14.95 by mail order from www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk

Ulysses · Post by **Ulysses** » 1 Nov 2009 10:06

Konqi,

Good morning,

I enjoyed the pictures you uploaded on the 12th of June. Two things jumped out at me:

1) What is that round wooden building with what appears to be a thatched roof (looks a bit like The Globe but with a complete roof) in the 2nd picture - the aerial shot? It's at about the same level as the LL station and seems to be close to what I have heard termed the 'Canada tower'?

2) The stadium in the same picture is the one that held the FA Cup?

Thanks in advance for any pointers Konqi.

Konqi · Post by **Konqi** » 1 Nov 2009 13:46

The round building was known as the "Panorama Building" was built in 1881 and knocked down in the 1950s/60s. The building was used to
display a variety of panoramas, not sure about its later life.

Photo of it here in 1911:

To the second question yes it was, although was used for other sports and activities so was adapted now and then as suited. You may find this post interesting:

http://forum.sydenham.org.uk/viewtopic. ... fcaa688e24

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tulse hill terry · Post by **tulse hill terry** » 2 Nov 2009 19:47

Mention of Panorama building in Jan Piggott's book , with different displays from 1884 till 1905. I have read somewhere that it was used by John Logie Baird to manufacture components for his televsions, before all the hush hush research made during the war.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1W49 ... q=&f=false

There's an article in a very early issue of Crystal Palace Matters. anyone want to save me the bother of digging it out?????

Thought not.

tulse hill terry · Post by **tulse hill terry** » 3 Nov 2009 00:02

Found it.

Crystal Palace Matters 1990 #37

Article by Ken Kiss [no sources]

To paraphrase.

"Built by 'La Societe Anonyme du Panorama du Palais de Cristal, Sydenham, Londres.'

Opened 3 June 1881. diameter 130 feet - 39.6 metres abd overall height of 100 feet.

Converted in 1911 to a boxing ring.

Taken over by John Logie Baird in the early 30's and finally demolished in 1963."

EDIT:

From the London Metropolitan Archive catalogue:

Panorama Exhibition Building CPT/45 1880-1881

Panorama Exhibition Building;- Licence and contract CPT/45(a) 1.3.1880

Contents:
From Crystal Palace Company to E Marlier Freres with copy power of attorney from E Marlier Freres to Mr Gilbert R Redgrave

Panorama Exhibition Building;- Licence and contract CPT/45(b) 1.3.1881

Contents:
From Crystal Palace Company (with consent and at request of Marlier Freres) to Societe Anonyme du Panorama du Palais de Cristal a Sydenhar Londres.

Panorama Exhibition Building;- Assignment CPT/45(c) 25.11.1896

Contents:
By S.A du Panorama du Palais de Cristal a Sydenham, Londres to the Crystal Palace Company.

Konqi · Post by **Konqi** » 3 Nov 2009 00:07

and today the main car park is built on top of it:

leenewham · Post by **leenewham** » 4 Nov 2009 00:03

The park was peppered with really interesting buildings. It's almost as bad as what happened to the palace it'self that they were destroyed and yet we are left with a sprinkle of ugly bricked up boxes all over the place.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Is there a map for what buildings were in the park, when they were destroyed and built (including the 'new' ones).
2. Are there any reasons why these buildings were destroyed (and pictures of them being pulled down?).
3. Why did they destroy the terraces and the fountains? I find that baffling!

Actually, when are you going on the walk with Falkor again? Count me in! I'll bring my clipboard.

tulse hill terry · Post by **tulse hill terry** » 4 Nov 2009 05:46

You can download the two pdf's, which Konqi has posted excerpts from above, via this link,

http://www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1120

especially parts 2a and b [seem to remember sending a link to a grateful Falkor some years ago now.]

Why did they clear the terraces? Sir Henry Buckland still had hopes of a conference centre, as counterpart to the sports centre, being built on the site of the Palace, before Birmingham was finally chosen, and all those [by then very weathered] urns, statues and fountains were just so much Victorian tat I expect. Apart from some restoration work in the 80's, the site and terraces remain no more, architecturally, than the cleared site it was in the 1930's.

Most things seem to be demolished in the hope of being replaced with something better, turnstiles and granite benches come to mind. The LDA "dig" was just the kind to establish whether the groud is safe to build on.

Despite the numerous plans over the last 73 years to redevelop the site, nothing has happened, which has left Londoners to wonder what did stand there.

Arson, still a problem in the park today, put paid to the last vestiges of the building, the wings and colonnades, and the Canadian Parliament buidling which was only plaster and wood anyway.

An interesting parallel would be the Festival of Britain buildings, erected by a Labour government, and demolished by a Conservative one, on the grounds that they hadn't been designed for permanance, and the future maintenance costs for temporary structures was unjustified.

Goodbye skylon, . . . . .or is it hello?

http://londonist.com/2009/05/skylon_mot ... _to_be.php

Konqi · Post by **Konqi** » 4 Nov 2009 15:45

The terraces and the site of the crystal palace were a car park in the 1960s, not sure if that's the real reason it was flattened.

Gene Meier · Post by **Gene Meier** » 21 Mar 2014 14:24

I am writing the first book from the American point of view about 19th century rotunda panoramas.These were the biggest paintings in the world,50 x 400=20,000 square feet, housed in their own rotundas which were 16-sided polygons. Chicago in 1893 had 6 panorama companies and 6 panorama rotundas.

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Missing Steps At Crystal Palace

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