The Crystal Palace: The story of a great building | AmorSciendi
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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2018
- A redo of a previous video. A great story of the Crystal Palace.
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Imagine if it was still here today 😢 I would have loved to visit it
It was in ruins when it burned down in the 30s. It was expensive to maintain and locals started to complain about it being an eye sore (the glass was dirty and falling out, most of the displays had been moved to museums and the big crowds had stopped coming decades ago). Locals thought it was burned down deliberately to avoid the paying the maintainace costs. I grew up next to the ruins of the Palace and was both fascinated and scared of the eery ruins. I used to play there with my brothers back in the 80s.
@@sammylong3704 That's awesome. Did you find anything intresting in the ruins?
We will rebuild it better and as a smart building 👷♂️😉
@@chrisglover2697 there were plans to rebuilt it and was being funded by Asian investors but it didn't go ahead
@@sammylong3704 poor maintenance that's why
I grew up right next to the Crystal Palace. My brother and I spent many long hours in the park - even though we were not supposed to go in there. It was a wonderful park, full of marvellous places for children to play. I remember the big gun emplacements before they broke them up in the 50's. The actual part where the Crystal Palace had been was fenced off but we used to climb over the iron gate. We called it "The Place of Life" and it was a place of wonder for us. Walkways, the large staircase and many statues.
Lovely to see some old photos of the Palace as it was originally.
How burns glas and iron? History is a big lie.
And another point brought up on the subject, who was able to produce glass ,a lot of it,at that time.research show, none listed to mass produce over such a short period of time.so.....?& If someone could during an earlier period,seem like numerous panes were still intact years later,many years even up to the point of alleged construction illustrations.
@@themessenger2527 it had a wooden floor. The glass melted.
@@themessenger2527 Your "history is a big lie" remark is both childish and inaccurate.
Learn a few things.
@@homoerectus744 Learn to research.
From the 'net:
The Crystal Palace’s glass
A technical and social history
Tom Chance, January 2018
(The Great-great-great grandson of James Timmins Chance)
The Crystal Palace, first erected in Hyde Park and then rebuilt to an expanded design in Sydenham,
was one of the most innovative buildings of the Victorian era. Its modular construction, prefabricated elements and extensive use of sheet glass were completely new.
Local history books describe the construction and use of the Sydenham Crystal Palace in considerable detail. But little is written about the glass itself, manufactured by Chance Brothers of Spon Lane, Smethwick. Their role is the focus of the following document.
Chance Brothers and the Crystal Palace
Chance Brothers produced the glass for the Crystal Palace at its glassworks on Spon Lane, Smethwick, next to the Birmingham-Wolverhampton canal. The glassworks at Spon Lane started in 1814, and was bought out by Chance Brothers in 1824.
Chance Brothers was one of only two glass manufacturers in England with the capacity to produce the quantity and quality of glass that Paxton required for the Crystal Palace. Chance was chosen over rival firm Hartley’s (of Sunderland) owing to their glass being 50% thinner and thus lighter. The sheets of glass measured 49 by 10 inches (124 by 25 cm), and were one-sixteenth inch (1.55mm) thick. This was as lightweight and large as they could make them without being vulnerable to breakage from hailstorms (Hollister, 1974; Encill, Forthcoming).
Joseph Paxton and Robert Lucas Chance already knew each other well. The firm had supplied the 5,201 square meters of glass required for Paxton’s Great Conservatory at Chatsworth, and a further order for the Victoria Regis Lily House. Shortly after Paxton laid his Crystal Palace design before the Royal Commissioners, he met at the office of Fox and Henderson (the lead contractors) and with Robert Lucas Chance to consult on the plans and prepare for detailed estimates and drawings (Williams and Chance, 2008).
The Building Commission approved Paxton’s plan on the 26th July 1850, and opened the building on
the 1st May 1851. Manufacturing the parts and erecting the building in just 39 weeks was an
unprecedented achievement, one we would struggle to reproduce today.
The contract required that the glassworks turn out 200 tons of sheet glass more than the usual output of the works over the period of a few months. At the height of production, in January 1851, some 60,000 panes of glass were produced in a fortnight (Hollister, 1974).
In total, the firm shipped 293,655 panes of glass weighing 400 tons to London (Hollister, 1974; Encill,
Forthcoming). The glass covered an area of 92,830 square meters (Encill, Forthcoming), more than
thirteen times the size of the football pitch at Selhurst Park.
Beside the glass, the Palace was supported by 3,300 cast-iron columns and 2,224 principal girders -
founded by a company also based in Smethwick - and 24 miles of main gutter; 205 miles of wood sash bar held the glass roof panels in place (Kihlstedt, 1984).
Between 1852 and 1854, the entire building was dismantled and reconstructed in Sydenham. Fox and Henderson had to disassemble the building and transport all the materials by horse and cart, a journey 12 miles as the crow flies but nearer 20 along busy London roads. They required traction engines to help the horses drag the materials up the steep hills (Goode, 1984).
There is no consistent or reliable mention in the literature of what happened to the glass from the
Hyde Park building. Goode suggests that, rather than transport the delicate glass this way, they simply smashed it, swept it up and sent it back to Chance Brothers to be remade. This seems an extraordinary waste of money, one not mentioned in any other literature reviewed in this monograph, and the explanation unlikely given a horse and cart would still have been required to move the glass from the canals to Sydenham.
With the help of the Crystal Palace Museum I found a partial answer. Fox and Henderson, the lead
contractor, sold “80,000 squares” of glass at auction one year after the exhibition, all in small lots
presumably targeted at builders, horticulturalists and other consumer markets.
The new palace at Sydenham was far larger than the original, so would anyway have required a large
quantity of new glass. Both Edwards and Wyncoll (1992) and Beaver (2001) cite approximate figures for the quantity of glass - 1,650,000 sq ft (153,000 square meters) weighing 500 tons. The glass would have covered an area more than 22 times as large as Selhurst Park. However, these quantities seem wrong - unless the glass was much thinner, that area of glass would have weighed over 660 tons. As the new palace was so much larger, it is likely the tonnage was much greater than 500.
Glass, class and migration
Many of the firm’s technical achievements came from the work of James Timmins Chance, newphew of the founder Robert Lucas and son of the second of the Chance brothers, William. He studied Mathematics at Cambridge, but was among a mere 3 per cent who at that time went on to work in business, applying his abilities to develop new glass technologies. Prevailing Victorian attitudes among the upper classes looked down on business and industry, preferring the church, the law or academia (Williams and Chance, 2008).
_There are nine more pages to the report, which is but one of many that can be found on the topic._
They should rebuild it again but this time with safety glass
@MG P We need to balance respect for nature with ambition, I think. We owe everything to people who've dared to dream, to build, and to overcome. I say if the earth knew a race of its children had dreams of reaching for the stars and planting a Starbucks on the other side of the galaxy, it would say go for it. The rest of the universe is too vast to care, and wouldn't care either if a minor cosmic event dashed the earth to pieces tomorrow. Power acquired should humble us, yes, but that doesn't mean don't dream.
Don't let Elon make it.
Pro tip : you can watch series at Flixzone. I've been using them for watching all kinds of movies these days.
@Juelz Finley yea, been watching on Flixzone for months myself :D
this would be such a big tourist attraction now
Another interesting fact about the Palace is that the two towers survived the fire but were destroyed in 1940. The Palace was situated on Anerley hill (The highest point in South London). During the war German bombers used to use the towers as a reference point to start dropping bombs knowing they had reached London. The entire Crystal Palace and Croydon area was heavily bombed all throughout 1940 until the towers were eventually demolished.
One of the towers was destroyed just after the fire, it was unstable and had to be demolished.
Great video!! I find it so fascinating that the designer for the Crystal Palace was originally a greenhouse designer. It makes sense - since greenhouses were made of similar transparent structures. But it also shows that innovation can often come from unexpected places!
Yeah! And the conservatory of flowers in SF is based on the design.
Was the crystal palace a museum ?
@@kawanbrownlee9724 something like this
I had no idea when I clicked on this that I'd get a pretty decent philosophical discourse on the impact of the industrial revolution on the psyche of humanity. Thanks. I'm sad the building is gone, but it is doubtful that it would have survived the war anyway.
There is a gorgeous recreation of the Crystal Palace near Dallas, Texas. It's most offices and little cafés, but it is lovely.
This video gives me hope. Thank you.
I watched it being constructed in 1981-1983. They dubbed it "InfoMart" to attract visionary companies that would unleash the power of electronic inter-networking.
Thank you so much for your research and your own outlook on the topic. I'm currently writing a paper on the Crystal Palace and its meaning so this really helps a lot!!
You ask some great questions at the end. I'd say that human creativity has been staring its next challenge in the face for at least two decades and the points you make about nature and control are key. We have to learn the humility to accept that nature is not 'other' - we are nature and we have to rise to the challenge of restoring its balance before its too late. It's our greatest challenge - bigger than any moonshot - and we have to accept it.
There's another crystal palace at the Retiro park in Madrid, inspired by the one in London. Although not as big, I think it is quite beautiful :)
Cool. Thanks for taking the time to comment
There were old world order Crystal Palaces all over the world that were not built by the so called architects and they were sadly systematically and intentionally destroyed.
I walk through the remains of the Palace whenever I visit the park, it’s an amazing place and you get a real sense of the scale of the building even though it’s not there anymore.
Thank you for your research and for this video! I heard about the Crystal Palace for the first time yesterday. The whole story of this place is incredible ! It inspires me a lot for the novel I’m writing - or at least trying to write 🙂
What a beautiful story.
It all works so perfectly.
I really enjoyed your video - it was super well made. It really helped me with a competition where I needed to research about the Crystal Palace.
Cool. Glad I could help
Great explanation and philosophical ideas!
Amazing, thanks for sharing :)
Awesome video! Entertaining and informative. I've gotta read more about it, seems very interesting.
thank you so much for this video!
Thank you for watching
I live around the corner from it... The story behind this structure makes no sense... I explore the area and the old railway line there... It is a fantastic mystery because the logistics and explanation for the palace; Such as moving it, not having any plans for it, , steel and glass don't burn down so completely like that. Also the two towers either side of the palace have been replaced with eiffel tower style antennas, one of which is in the same location as the previous towers, the other further away but exactly parallel with the old towers. the railways and some of the brickwork don't match the time period or construction methods used, there is legit construction photos, or plans for it. the fact that it was so stunning, not just the palace but look at photos of the whole park in '1851' and then look at the area now; a brutalist and concreted car park with a massive concrete athletics stadium bang in the middle, which of course always is totally empty.... Gone are all the fountains in exchange for some made up dinosaur statues... Such a travesty, complete vandalism.
I agree 100%!!
Great video on great monument!
wow! Crystal Palace sounds like a wonder
If you go there today you will find a lot of reminders of the big glass building. Old iron structures and even red sphynx sculptures
We didn't build this then take it down after a show of six months... look at at architecture like this is All over the whirld,all burn down it's glass and wrought iron ..9 11 alloy plane ...it more bizzare than you think
This was designed and built by actual, factual, people who utilized skills, tools, technologies of the Industrial Age. Records exist and are available for research.
The _"whirld [sic]"_ has many libraries and legitimate sources of information that you could research.
It was such a enormous structure with a massive work force that it had its own police department, known as the Crystal Palace Company Police force.
Awesome mate thank you. I’ve been to Crystal Palace. It seems lonely now. Though it’s a cracking place
Thank you, that was very interesting.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment
I need to do a thesis for my exam and I chose for a topic Dostoevsky,this video is really helpful and it explains clearly the Crystal Palace! Thanks a lot!
You're welcome
Very nice video! I went for a walk there and I was curious about it. I sent it to my friends who live near by! Thanks!!
Amazing. Thank you for sharing it
Very enjoyable vlog, sir!
Thanks!
From a Londoner, great job!
Very interesting, thanks
Great video!
Thanks
It feels like one of the world's 7 wonders you will never get to see. You will only see its football club concede many goals.
Up until now I only knew Crystal Palace as a football team.
GLAD ALL OVER
So now you know how the football club got it's name🙂
so psychological! I too want to never stop building
Legit question How in 5 months did they built a 41m high green house how did they get the top glass sheets on tried looking for illustrations of them building it but nothing just really confused 🤷♂️
Check out Jon Levi channel for.you answer. Beware to have your mind blown!
@@elayne4334 Jon Levi dispenses lies and fantasy to his gullible 'followers' who regurgitate same with evangelical zeal.
There are volumes of accurate historical information, as well as original records, that may be found from reliable sources.
Apparently your mind is already "blown".
@@elayne4334I watch Jon Levi at times too!!
A well written and pacy synopsis; I learnt plenty in a short time. Nice if you lingered on the period imagery I came here for, but the philosophy was way more profound than the average 'interesting ruins' video, so, thanks.
Tartarian glass and metal burn ?
"Tartarian" fantasies are just that.
This was designed and built by actual, factual, people who utilized skills, tools, technologies of the Industrial Age. Records exist and are available for research.
Thanks for another great video!
You lovingly describe the symbolic value of the Crystal Palace as a triumph of human engineering and progress, and how that sense of optimism and of Faith in human understanding and even mastering of the world was challenged by new thinkers, like Einstein and Freund. The burning of the Crystal Palace fits well symbolically with this new Age of Uncertainty.
I just would like to add the importance of World War I to this story. That War shattered optimistic notions about progress and humanity's future.
What good are primises of progess when they lead to poison gas attacks, zeppelin bombardments of London and endless slaughter in the trenches by nameless, unseen machine guns and heavy artillery?
How can anyone have faith in notions of national destiny and traditional values, if these only lead to the gruesome death of millions, the lifelong disfigurement, crippling, and shellshock (PTSD) of millions of others, the fall of Empires and the rise of revolutionary regimes, especially that of Communist Russia and of Capitalist America?
The war was cataclysmic. It changed culture and society for good.
In many ways, we still live in a world made by the First World War.
Thanks again!
There was also a Crystal Palace in New York City in the same time period as the one in England. The greatest exhibition of this Place was Elisha Otis's demonstration of his elevator safety brake.
The population of England at that time was 17 mil. apparently..I thought 6 mil. would be unlikely and checked apparently
ALL Crystal palaces were burnt down. Cast iron and Glass. DEW.
Yup! Intentional lies about architects, destruction and covering up the beautiful old world order for their new world chaos junk too!
More philosophical than informative about the actual building.
I hope you found it worthwhile in spite of that.
Part of the history.
His story.
Yes, of course! :) Sorry for the 5 year delay in reply.@@AmorSciendi
Yes it would have been interesting and fun!
i meet a lady few years ago who went to the crystal palace as a child amazing
I support Crystal Palace FC
My great great grandfather was the architect on the palace Joseph Paxton he was all about plants he was never an architect there were over 250 drawings submitted they chose Paxtons because it used no bricks and the window tax ended 5 years earlier. He had a son and his son (my grandfather) Angus who followed in his footsteps doing botney and horticulture he taught in colleges all over the world and wrote his own series of books on plants and his son (my dad) also followed as well as me in doing stuff with plants / horticulture/ landscaping/ construction until he sold the business and retired in 2010.
Great. 👍👍👍
Hola! Soy de México. Me encantó tu video así como las metáforas en las que comparas la construcción a las metas realizadas en el ámbito cultural. Estoy estudiando Historia del Arte. Me hubiera facinado conocer el edificio de cristal 😢
Great video and the explanations are very clear. I like this presentation a lot and subscribed to the channel.
"The Great...Exhibit of 1851"!!
Stop this bullshit mate. Slawa Wielkiej Lechii ! POLSKA !
@@cynamoon86 To jest nie gowno prawda. To jest prawda!
Thank you for this informative video. I only wonder how come you never once mentioned the name of the designer.
UP THE PALACE 💙❤💙❤
Fun video thanks...but it certainly isn,t only Nerdy CZcamsrs that visit Crystal Palace Park. It is The Local Park for a Whole lot of South Londoners and guests fom further afield every day....Palace or no Palace ..Its still the Best Park in the World...I may be biased though ;) as I live very close and go through CPP most days. Dinosaurs for the Win ;)
You're lucky to live there
Someone should rebuild it using modern technology, engineering, and materials.
The Crystal Palace car boot sale rests there at the end of the fall. 😄
i tried finding it but every time i look it up it just shows me the football club.
I knew that place for Emma Victorian Romance...
He querido ver más fotos de este palacio. Y todos tienen las mismas 4 fotos
We must rebuild it
We (whoever that is) may not have built it. It was likely built by the old world order aka Tartarians.
I am here after reading Notes from the underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
So this is the palace from Black Butler
Such an intelligently created video. Thanks....am watching a series about the a&v museum and ended up here. Glad I did. ….are you single?
:)
Glad to hear you liked it and I really appreciate you taking the time to say so. I also hope you watched some of my more recent videos (I think I'm getting better).
Also, happily married :)
Way over philosophized I'm afraid. I lived in crystal palace (for many years) which is also now the name of the area {obviously named after the building itself} and it's still a vibrant area. We are talking about South London which has thousands of residents. And when I say residents I mean it's very much a residential area. The architecture of the area was largely built in the Victorian era along with the palace itself of course. So it's not exactly in the middle of nowhere. it's not a field that's forgotten, abandoned and that nobody visits. It is now a public park and has been for decades and hundreds if not thousands of people visit it every day. So quite a different picture than that of which you are trying to paint for your narrative.
I was searching for critical role- call of cthulhu: shadow of the crystal palace and this popped up.
Well. I hope you enjoyed it
Amor Sciendi i did. It was good to know that such a place existed outside of fantasy.
i live near crystal palace
NO even 1 word about LECHIA !
The Polish football club?
The building spoke, and said: glory to the British empire. It has a Spanish version in Madrid, which is still standing. Much prettier for my taste.
Wonder how the royals of the day would’ve reacted if you flew in on a helicopter 🚁, and said my new invention, your majesty? lol
Who downvotes this? Savage
'Mud Flood' fools.
The 2010s is the crystal palace. A decade of prosperity, the advancements we made... only to be burned away by covid-19.
Is there proof of this being built.
Yes
You mean apart from the remains of where it was, the books written at the time, the stall holders who advertised their wares, The many eyewitness accounts and the mountains photographs of it before it burned down?
How about I give you a little something to research, it's called "The Great Lock Controversy" where a man called A.C Hobbs went to the Crystal Palace and accepted a challenge on to inside Crystal Palace to pick several locks of various manufacturers. This event is very well documented back then as it is today. There's mountains of proof that it existed and you question it? How is that?
@KitCloudkickerUK the Chance Brothers were the only company back then making glass. And it was for pop bottles. Which incorporated company in the UK, manufacturered 300,000 panels of glass, circa 1850. When the Crystal Palace was supposedly made. Their called the Tartarians, who really built it.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God..." (Phil. 4:6)
When the Crystal Palace Exhibition opened in 1851, people flocked to London's Hyde Park to behold the marvels. One of the greatest marvels back then was steam. Steam plows were displayed. Steam locomotives. Steam looms. Steam organs. Even a steam cannon.
f all the great exhibits that year, the first-prize winner was a steam invention with seven thousand parts. When it was turned on, its pulleys, whistles, bells, and gears made a lot of noise, but, ironically, the contraption didn't do a thing. It had seven thousand moving parts making a lot of commotion, but having no practical use.
Perhaps our lives are somewhat like that worthless machine. We seem to be running in every direction, worried about this and that, and making a lot of noise, but accomplishing nothing. Let us stop being anxious about a lot of things that don't really matter, and focus on things which are truly important.
How was this built in the time period it was built and in the time scale they say? Construction started 1850, completed 1851...I call bs on this.
It was for a temporary exhibit at first, so it didn't have a robust foundation. The British empire had a lot of resources. It's just glass and iron. Also, who is "they"? The historical documentation surrounding this construction is thorough. Contracts, purchase orders. Designs. First hand accounts of the construction and visitation. I don't understand on what ground you can call BS. Historical documents exist. This isn't some news outlet making a claim without evidence. Visit the British library and get a copy of the visitor guide from 1851.
The "BS" is yours.
This was designed and built by actual, factual, people who utilized skills, tools, technologies of the Industrial Age. Records exist and are available for research.
@@AmorSciendi Word!
Now ask yourself how in the world men built this with horse and buggy and no power tools or trains. I call BS.
.... There were trains
The "BS" is your belief that there were "no trains" and "no power tools" in the 1850s. Also, have you ever seen a mule team at work, driven by skilled 'skinners'?
Your ignorance is profound. Learn about the Industrial Age, of railroads, steam traction engines, portable electric generators, ... . Cranes have existed since ancient Mesopotamia.
I think steam powered tools like a steam hammer and belt pillar drill from steam count as power tools, and yes, they had trains.
When it comes to history, you're an imbecile.
Has it ever crossed your mind how they built such an amazing structure the first time in nine months just to tear it down and move it. You mention tons of iron. Did you know iron does not burn when there is a fire?
We do not have the technology today to do anything like this so how do you think they did this in the 1850’s?
Think about it.
I am confused. Are you suggesting that iron and glass didn't exist yet in 1850, or that they still don't exist today? That photographs of the building and the overwhelming documentation of its existence are all fabricated? Or that its demise was a controlled demolition? So many questions!
Why don't you research how it was done, and from reputable sources.
Records exist. Learn a few things.
@@StrongMed There are 'Mud Flood' fools who believe exactly that and more.
All, of course, heavily peppered with conspiracy theories and fear of _'they'._
There's books written by credible people who went. Stands held by the most respectable of manufacturers who were there, Engineers who worked on it, Design plans that still exist, famous novelists who wrote in their books about this place as well as photographs, Eyewitnesses, lifelong historians who studied it and all the leftover architectural monuments still in place on the site and you have doubts of it ever existing?
Please, explain your logic.
Lol you really think they move that building do you understand that they didn't even have the Glass technology in 1851 to make that much glass when they moved it did they move the train station with it I do not believe this was made by our society it was already there just like most of these great palaces how could they have been built 1851 is a reset year
They used the newly built Paddington station nearby. I don't understand what you're suggesting
'Mud Flood Reset' is idiotic fantasy.
This was designed and built by actual, factual, people who utilized skills, tools, technologies of the Industrial Age. Records exist and are available for research.
Seems like a very nice guy, I would like to have seen lots of pictures of the Crystal Palace not the guy, why would I want to see the guy, it's like clicking on a TT vid or glacial carving and watching a man talk, why would you, and the guy seems really nice. Maybe it should be headlined as "Crystal Palace, video of a man talking about it"
He's cutem
You should at least blink once so we know you are human
Ive been working on that human thing. Check out my more recent videos for some good blinks.
You need way more research and way less pontificating about concepts of modernity. Even in the few facts you present, some of them are wrong. Six million is definitely not "nearly the entire population of England at the time," which was over 15 million. And that six million figure was in 1851 for the exhibition, despite you saying the previous sentence that "tourists in 1860 wanted to see this." Sloppy writing. (Also that six million figure isn't unique visitors--it was entrants, and many people had season passes and came multiple times.) And saying "the whole thing melted" is lazy and wrong. Most of the frame was still standing after the fire. The rest of the frame collapsed, but it's not like there was a big puddle of iron and glass afterward. And give me a break with no one visiting Crystal Palace Park these days. It has one of the best views of London as well as a big sports complex. Why bother making these if you don't even know what you're talking about?
WE DIDNT and COULDNT have built it back then. Duh!!!!! We didnt even know how to make glass windows at that time.
That's simply not true
There was almost 300,000 plates of glass. Along with hundreds of tons of steal, in 1851? We as humans only perfected the art of glass bottle making at that time. And not plate glass mass manufacturing at that time. Moving all that glass with a horse and buggy in 1851. And then tearing down that absolutely beautiful building a short while later. All that makes me believe that we as humans in 1851, before electricity, did not build that.
Sheet glass production methods from 1832 made it possible. They also had trains in the 1850s. Not sure why you think it's horse and buggy.
@@AmorSciendi The Chance Brothers would have had to pump out almost 900 plates of glass a day 24/7 for 365 days. To produce the almost 300,000 plates in the Crystal Palace. And no pictures of how they transported the fragile glass on trains or to or from the trains. They simply lacked the technology to build that structure at that time.
@@AmorSciendi Also there is no record of mass glass production in 1851. The Chance Brothers had only masterd glass bottle making. The Cylinder method they used at that time, could not have produced that flat glass, in that amount. With only a year to build. Then tear it down a short while later? Not til the early 1900s did they start using mass glass production. And even then, never to the extent of the Crystal Palace.