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Making History
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 Tuesday 3.00-3.30 p.m |
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Sue Cook presents the series that examines listeners' historical queries, exploring avenues of research and uncovering mysteries. |
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Keeping cool in the Crystal PalaceÌýÌý
Listener's query
"The Crystal Palace - wasn't it like a greenhouse roasting the people inside?"
Brief summary
The Crystal Palace, which housed the Great Exhibition of 1851, was built in Hyde Park and afterwards taken down. Its designer and architect, Sir Joseph Paxton, re-erected it at Sydenham in the 1850s where it remained until it was destroyed by fire in 1936.
Melvyn Harrison of the Crystal Palace Foundation, which runs the Crystal Palace Museum, explains:
"It was very much like a large greenhouse. It had a basement, balconies and courtyards. The wind used to blow furiously through the palace. People sat in concerts with overcoats on, even in the month of June. In winter it could be freezing cold. Even with thousands of people inside, there was no sense of the air being stale. However, like all greenhouses, it did occasionally get very hot. It was very difficult to control the temperature. The ventilators were rudimentary like Venetian blind shutters - a cord was pulled so that they were either open or shut."
Further information
Crystal Palace Museum
84 Anerley Road, London SE19 2AH
Tel: 020 8676 0700 or 07889 338812
Fax: 0870 133 7920
Website:
Please note: the ±«Óãtv accepts no responsibility for the content of external websites.
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See AlsoThe ±«Óãtv is not responsible for the content of external sites |
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Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ±«Óãtv, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ±«Óãtv Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý