80th ANNIVERSARY OF CRYSTAL PALACE BURNING DOWN: Built to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Crystal Palace and its grounds were used to house exhibitions and events long after it moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill in 1854. Radically restructured by its designer Joseph Paxton to create an even larger central hall, the building continued to be used to educate and entertain the masses. Even after it burnt down in 1936, the grounds are famed for their sports and the area is still a popular landmark of South London.
Host to many sports events, be it
cricketing legend W.G. Grace batting in the grounds or one of the F.A Cup Finals held at the football stadium before it became the National Sports Centre, there was something for everyone. The 1911 final between
Bradford City and Newcastle United (with a later sound track) has wonderful shots of the excited spectators, all of which wear cloth caps. If more amusing sports were up your street,
pre-First World War entertainment could include elegant ladies cycling in formation or even a precarious penny farthing race around the cambered race track.
Home to the South London Exhibition Centre, as well as being a domestic suburb of South London, the 1920s and ‘30s saw the residents of London and beyond commuting on trams or trains down to the Penge area.
This 1920s film shows trams waiting outside the station on Anerley Hill one evening. The walls of the station are covered with a variety of printed adverts, including signs to the low level station (one of two that served the Crystal Palace). Above the most prominent ‘South London Exhibition NOW OPEN’ sign, a more faded old one can be seen advertising the 'Crystal Palace Picture House'. The transport is also covered in advertisements for products such as corned beef and the Morning Post. Most impressive of all of course is the enormous barrel vaulted glass building itself, looming in the fog above the scene. As the camera pans around, one of the two water towers, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, which served the grounds, can be seen in the distance.
A film of the
Co-operative show of 1934, in which many societies paraded around the terraces in the extensive landscaped grounds, shows just how grand the scale of the Crystal Palace was. As does this
excerpt from a 1930s feature in which two rather lovely cars are driven through the leafy gardens towards the Palace past stone balustrades and statues. Further shots show the distinctive arched stairway leading up to the main building, statues around the fountain pools and visitors promenading along the picturesque terraces. The last view is particularly unusual as it appears to be taken from on top of the building looking along one of the transepts towards the main barrel vaulted roof.
It may not be as impressive as the world of industrial revolution innovations that were brought to the palace in 1851 but, if you were passing by in 1934, you would have found the
kennel club dog show event. Apart from a glamorous array of pooches, this film does hold a glimpse of the central transept interior packed with visitors and, behind a certain Dalmatian, a lovely example of Victorian metalwork. Clearly it was a versatile and popular space for all kinds of events.
An amateur film shot over Penge shows the
palace and gardens in the 1930s. The film is a rare example of colour aerial footage of the time, looking North West we see the Crystal Palace flanked by Brunel’s water towers still in place before the war, when they were pulled down.
This
exceptional film taken on the night of the burning and the following morning shows the ferocity of the blaze. The building glows from within, silhouetting the ornate metal work structure and in some shots revealing the herringbone patchwork of glass panes which covered it. Though simple rectangles these were carefully designed to be manufactured on a mass scale – a ground breaking industrial and cost saving development of the 1840s and ‘50s. Warped views through the heat of the domed transept are unsettlingly reminiscent of the spindly lines of Paxton’s first drawing of the structure. While silhouetted firemen in helmets standing below in front of the raging fire and smoke are sadly resonant of the early film of the
Kansas City Fire Brigade training on the same site in 1900. The shot of a single fireman hosing water into the enormous void from the top of a thin ladder shows the futility of the situation like no other. The film continues to document the site as it still smoulders the morning after, the blaze run its course, the full extent of the destruction can be seen. Somehow the camera person has managed to get inside the wreckage, capturing wonderful shots of the metal struts towering above, as well as details such as trellis work arcades and Gothic Revival archways and decorations. A shocking site in 1936, sadly views like these would become common in the following years during the Blitz.
Another amateur film shot shortly after the disaster also shows the shattered remains of the palace and the remaining water towers. A sign advertising ‘show of cats on Dec 2
nd & 3
rd’, which would have taken place only days after, is a reminder of the kind of events that were held at the exhibition centre up until its demise. A building always closely partnered with the trees that surrounded (and c.1851 grew within) it the film shows how the twisted metal structure mirrors the twiggy winter trees nearby; the epic framework reduced to faint lines against the sky in this faded film.
The years after the fire lead to an understandable decline in the use of the high level railway branch that serviced the exhibition centre. A touching amateur film from
1954 documents the last train to run on the line, one hundred years after the building was re-constructed on Sydenham Hill. It soaks up images of the station signs, printed ephemera and train drivers decorating the front of steam engine 31516. The film also includes shots from the moving train looking down at well wishers and spectators gathered on the line obviously held in much affection.
Not wishing to create a story of the demise of Sydenham Hill, however, the popular motor racing circuit brought visitors to the site until the 1970s: For example take a look at the
1953 Formula 2 final at the Crystal Palace Coronation Trophy. Spectators pile into the grounds on a hot summer’s day to watch the race, as do the news cameras. It is quite a different spectacle from today’s motor racing, not only the cars but the driver’s gear is radically different; as can be seen at the end of this film when the winning driver gets out of his car wearing a shirt with rolled up sleeves!
