The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace is a vital part of England's history. Constructed in the midst of England's Victorian Era, the Crystal Palace was conceived to symbolize this industrial, military and economic superiority of Great Britain ("The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace"). The Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph Paxton for the purpose of hosting the Great Exhibition in 1851. The construction of the Crystal Palace was rapid due to the controversial design of Joseph Paxton. Therefore, the Crystal Palace has been the center of discussions for over a century and a half because of its design and purpose.

The man that gained his fame from merely designing the Crystal Palace is Joseph Paxton. The rest of his life is of little interest to the world. Paxton was born the son of a gardener (Perry and Mason 167). Given the times, he should have led the life of a lower classmen, a laborer. But, Paxton's energy and perseverance were meant for greater things; they allowed for him to be successful self-made man that he was (Harling 238-240). When people are driven they are capable of achieving huge accomplishments. They are willing to stop at nothing in order to succeed. This is why Paxton is noted for his various occupations. Paxton was known as a gardener, inventor, and entrepreneur (Matthew 261). It was through his original profession that Paxton's talents became noticed. Paxton worked for many noblemen as a landscape architect. It was when he worked for the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth that his talents were noticed. Paxton was capable of conducting business and handling large projects. He also designed the greenhouses for the massive gardens that he oversaw (Harling 238-240). Paxton never received a college education (Perry and Mason 167). If Paxton had gone to college and received formal architectural training he might not have been as familiar with glass and iron, but since observed what worked with greenhouses and studied independently he was more familiar with the materials than anyone. Had Paxton never had his experience using iron and glass to design greenhouses, the Crystal Palace would have never been and who knows what might have come about from the Great Exhibition. It was through his design of the Crystal Palace that Joseph Paxton cemented his place in history (Harling 238-240). The Crystal Palace eventually led to the knighting of Paxton ("Joseph Paxton").

It was through the Great Exhibition that England was able to show how powerful it was as a nation. The Crystal Palace served a great purpose for Victorian England when it needed to represent how its capitalist market dominated the rest of the world (Richards 3-4). In the early 19th century there was a problem representing commodities in the world (Richards 3-4). The gigantic structure was built to house one hundred thousand commodities. The Crystal Palace allowed for meaningless items to shine and capitalism came to show its other forms, which England dominated the rest of the world. Advertising came about and the Crystal Palace became known as a "modern day shopping mall" (Richards 3-4). The Great Exhibition allowed for people from all over the world to see what other countries were up to as far as industry goes. The Crystal Palace became the centerpiece in what would become known as "the 1st World's Fair" (Richards 17). It allowed for advertisers to bring everything together in an international market and museum (Richards 21). Being in the middle of it all, hosting over 14,000 international exhibitors and 6 million visitors, the Crystal Palace stood for British economic power. Before the Great Exhibition, "No other country, before or since, has achieved such hegemony in the world economy" (Matthew 41). Basically, hosting the Great Exhibition allowed for England to flex its industrial muscle. Once the Great Exhibition ended the Crystal Palace was taken down and re-erected in Sydenham, South London where it would be used for band and choir competitions (Matthew 57). Later on the Crystal Palace would be used as a political platform (Arnstein 135). The Crystal Palace ended up being the symbol of the Great Exhibition that will always be remembered.

In 1851 Joseph Paxton designed the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition. Having designed the Crystal Palace in just ten days, it would leave his mark on the world and Paxton would not contribute any other works to the world (Harling 238-240). The building commission wanted the Great Exhibition Building to be "a third of a mile long, a hundred yards wide, and three stories high" Not only, did the commission want a "big building" they wanted it to be "portable" and it was to built with "prefabricated material" (Richards 22). Paxton was fit to be the architect for the Great Exhibition Building because he had had experience with glass and iron. "In 1848 Mr. Paxton erected an ornamental glass structure for the reception of the new and splendid plant called the Ð''Victoria Regia.' This building, as may be seen, was of a light and airy appearance, and was in fact the parent to the Crystal Palace" (Harling 238-240). Using the knowledge gained from previous designs, "Paxton submitted a plan that called for a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories of glass and iron" Richards (18-19). According to Arnstein, Paxton's design was "over 1800 feet long and more than 400 feet wide". While on a train to the city, where Paxton wanted to show his work, he ran into an engineer that was a member of the royal commission that loved his design. The engineer told Paxton that his design was Ð''a thousand times better' than anything that had been brought before them (Harling 238-240). Paxton's design was a giant greenhouse that took on the shape of a palace (Richards 3-4). Not only was Paxton's design easy on the eyes, it was highly efficient. He used tubular iron pillars served a dual purpose, not only did they support the glass structure, but they carried rainwater from the roof. He also used mechanical windows that open and led to a natural cooling and lighting effect (Perry and Mason 166). The design allowed for all objects to be shown in a light that they had not been seen in previously. Richards states, "Even the smallest and most unalluring objects displayed-bits of clay, clods of dirt, hunks of coal-benefited form the Crystal Palace's greenhouse effect" (Richards 3-4). Perhaps, Paxton felt as if he could never contribute a work so great to the world so he went into fields other than architecture. Harling states how his work left him nothing to improve on when he says, "whether, in the words of a contemporary, we consider the noble and the humanizing purposes to which the building is consecrated,