Crystal Palace Park, Sydenham, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest:  

19th century pleasure grounds designed by Sir Joseph Paxton as a setting for the Crystal Palace when it was moved from Hyde Park in 1852.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Crystal Place is situated at the top of Sydenham Hill in a densely populated area of south-east London. The area immediately around the site has taken on the name of Crystal Palace. Lower Sydenham lies about 700 metres to the east and Penge 400 metres to the south-east. Dulwich Park is about 1 kilometre to the north, and West Norwood Cemetery about 1.5 kilometre to the north-west. The site is enclosed within iron railings and fencing and is bounded to the north by Westwood Hill (A212); to the north-east round to the south-east by Crystal Palace Park Road; to the south-west by Anerley Hill; and to the west and north-west by Crystal Palace Parade. Thicket Road provides the boundary to the south-east, while the railway line which runs between London and Beckenham forms the boundary to the south. The about 80 hectares site is set on the south-east side of one of the highest hills in south-east London. The views, so important to the Company when they chose the site, have changed. The City of London is largely obscured by buildings but the views across to Kent still exist. Of the whole area, about 42 hectares is open as a public park, about 17 hectares forms the National Recreation Centre, and about 20 hectares includes the Terraces and the site of the exhibition building to the north-west.

REFERENCES

E Wolford, London Old and New (nd), pp 307-314

Gardeners' Chronicle, 14 (1853), p 219; 16 (1853), p 263; 37 (1853), p 583; 47 (1853), p 739

S Philips, Crystal Palace, A Guide to the Palace and Park (1854, revised 1859)

Routledges Guide to the Crystal Palace Park at Sydenham (1854)

The Builder, (1856)

Guide to Crystal Place and Park (1893)

C F Chadwick, The Works of Sir Joseph Paxton (1961), pp 16, 137-159

P Beaver, The Crystal Place (1970)

B Cherry and N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 2 South (1983), pp 182-183

Crystal Palace Park, Draft Management Plan, (London Borough of Bromley 1986)

B Elliot, Victorian Gardens (1990), pp 107, 110, 127, 173.

New Crystal Palace Matters [Journal of the Crystal Palace Foundation (founded 1979)]

Maps

[all reproduced in London Borough of Bromley 1986]

Site plan, guidebook, Philips 1854

Site plan, guidebook, Routledges 1854

Sale plan, 1912

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1865

2nd edition published 1898

Archival items

Crystal Palace Sale catalogue, 1912 [reproduced in London Borough of Bromley 1986]

Description written: March 1999

Edited: June 2001