[timeline]
a chronology
1848
Second Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) exhibition attracts 70,000
visitors.
24 July RSA council meeting: Henry Cole suggests regular RSA exhibitions
in conjunction with Board of Trade.
1849
Third RSA exhibition very successful.
11th quinquennial exhibition in Paris.
30 June Buckingham Palace meeting: Prince Albert, William Cubitt, John
Scott Russell, Cole. Decide on exhibition and establish its character.
17 October Mansion House meeting enlists City support.
October/November Cole and others personally visit manufacturing towns around the
country to enlist support.
1850
January Royal Commission takes over from RSA
24 January Building committee appointed: Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Ellesmere,
Charles Barry, Robert Cockerell, Donaldson, Robert Stephenson,
Cubitt, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
22 March Mansion House dinner: important for fundraising.
8 April Deadline for architectural competition.
9 May Building committee reports to commission, rejecting all 245 plans
and submitting their own.
May/June Public outcry over the commission's design.
11 June Joseph Paxton meets William Ellis MP, chairman of Midland Railway,
at House of Commons and asks if he can submit a design.
21 June Paxton/Stephenson railway journey.
22 June Paxton takes his plans to Lord Granville.
24 June Paxton/Prince Albert meeting.
29 June Building committee meets.
end June Cole goes to builders Messrs Fox and Henderson and gets them
to tender for both designs.
6 July Illustrated London News publishes Paxton's design.
10 July Paxton's preliminary plans are submitted to the committee.
11 July Building committee reports receiving 19 tenders from contractors
and a design from Paxton.
15 July Paxton telegraphs his wife that his plans have been accepted.
30 July Messrs Fox and Henderson take over the ground.
August Cubitt (president of the Institute of Civil Engineers) superintends
construction.
26 September First column fixed in place.
end September Sightseers allowed to watch the works for 5 shillings.
October Safety tests.
November Punch coins the name 'Crystal Palace'.
13 November Paxton gives a paper at the RSA on the evolution of the design.
early December Transept ribs raised.
1851
1 February Public announcement that the building is ready to receive goods.
1 May Opening ceremony.
July Paxton petitions Parliament to retain Crystal Palace in Hyde
Park after the Great Exhibition closes.
11 October Great Exhibition closes to the general public.
15 October Prince Albert conducts closing ceremony; doors close for the
last time.
1852
early April Paxton secures money for the Crystal Palace Company flotation.
30 April House of Commons votes for removal of Crystal Palace from Hyde
Park.
18 May Crystal Palace Company prospectus provides for £500,000 capital
in 100,000 £5 shares.
5 August First column raised at Sydenham.
? August Accident on site kills 12 workmen. Paxton moves into Rockhills
to oversee work.
1853
Prehistoric animals built by Waterhouse Hawkins and placed on island in the lake.
November Queen Victoria pays private visit to site.
1854
10 June Crystal Palace at Sydenham opens -- a year late.
December Paxton becomes MP for Coventry
1855
April Visit to Crystal Palace by Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Napoleon
III and Empress Eugenie.
2 June Royal Horticultural fete and show held at Crystal Palace, attended
by 30,000 people.
1857
Organ installed.
July First Great Handel Festival: over 2,000 singers and 386 instrumentalists
watched by an average of 13,000 people during limited performances.
1859
Official 'Crystal Palace Aeronaut', Henry Croxwell, begins to
take passengers up in a balloon to a height of 2,000 feet [610m].
1861
February Crystal Palace damaged in a gale.
1862
Second international exhibition held in South Kensington.
First performance of a music piece by 19-year-old Arthur Sullivan,
held at Crystal Palace.
1865
8 June Paxton dies.
July First firework display -- a competition between different manufacturers
-- seen by 20,000 paying visitors. Won by Charles Thomas Brock,
whose family (except for 1910-20) remained responsible for the
displays for as long as the Crystal Palace remained standing.
1866
30 December Fire destroys North Wing and North Transept (including the natural history collection with its animals and
birds), various Courts of Art, the Royal Apartments, the Library
and the Printing Offices. Only part of the North Wing is replaced.
1868
Crystal Palace presents first showing of moving pictures to a
large audience. Zoetrope projector (powered by a gas engine) showed
'The Conjurer', 'The Acrobat', 'The Umbrella Man' and 'Jim Crow'.
June First-ever Aeronautical Exhibition held at Crystal Palace: 77
exhibits, including engines, balloons, kites, models and plans
for machines not yet built.
1872
Aquarium opens.
1891
Electric lighting installed (and, considering the state of the
company's finances, was probably never upgraded).
1902
First manned airship ascent in Britain made from Crystal Palace
by Stanley Spencer
1903
First motor show to be organised by Society of Motor Manufacturers
and Traders. With 180 exhibitors, it is largest in the world so
far
1909
Crystal Palace Company runs out of money. Plans made to sell the
remainder of the land for building houses.
1910
June-July Claude Grahame-White pilots two aeroplane flights every Tuesday
evening, flying 8 miles [12.87km] over Norwood and Penge.
1911
Festival of Empire held, in honour of George V's coronation. Includes
models of all Commonwealth parliament buildings, and Pageant of
London with a cast of hundreds.
Crystal Palace Company declared bankrupt.
To save building from the developers, Duke of Plymouth buys whole
concern for £230,000.
6 June Fire in smoking and billiard room; damage to wood panelling,
balcony and floor.
1913
King Edward National Memorial Fund (begun by Lord Mayor of London
two years earlier) buys Palace for the nation.
Board of trustees formed, who appoint Henry Buckland as general
manager.
1914-18
During World War I, Crystal Palace used as naval barracks (known
as HMS Victory VI), housing up to 13,000 sailors.
1920
9 February Fire in theatre property room; £1,700 worth of damage.
June Crystal Palace reopened to the public by George V and Queen Mary
as Imperial War Museum.
9 June Fire involving outside wall of Aquarium; £900 worth of damage.
1923
23 March Fire in South Transept staff room and war exhibition section;
£5,000 worth of damage.
1933
July The Baird Company, headed by television inventor John Logie Baird,
moves to Crystal Palace. Occupies 40,000 sq. ft [3,716sq. m] under
the main concourse and adjoining the tunnel connecting the two
towers, as well as having use of the School of Arts building,
the South Tower and (later) the Rotunda.
1936
30 November Crystal Palace destroyed by fire. Blaze initially discovered by Sir Henry Buckland and his daughter
Crystal.
Fire destroys most of Baird television facilities, which contributes
to decision to discontinue transmissions.
1937
Crystal Palace site cleared, leaving only the two water towers.
19 August Fire in Palace Club. Remains of skating rink destroyed during
demolition works.
1938
John Logie Baird's colour television pictures transmitted to Dominion
Theatre in London from South Tower.
1941-42
Believing that they would provide a convenient landmark for German
bombers, the two water towers are demolished.
1950
24 October School of Art and remains of South Wing destroyed by fire.
1951
LCC (Crystal Palace) Act passed by Parliament, giving responsibility
for the Palace site to the London County Council.
1960
Building of Crystal Palace National Recreation Centre begun.
1964
13 July Recreation centre opened by Duke of Edinburgh.
1969
1 January Name changed to Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.
