Giclee, London, Crystal Palace, Great Exhibition, 1851, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria

TITLE: "London Crystal Palace. Regent Street, Oxford Street & Great Portland Street, London. Admission Free. Owens Jones, Architect. Kennard Brothers, Builders"

Archival limited edition giclee print of an original hand colored lithograph by Edmund Walker, published by “Lithographer’s to the Queen” Day & Son, 1851.

Size of Image = 38 x 55 cm (15 1/6 x 22 inch)

Limited Edition Certificate /300 included.

Description: Edmund Walker originally designed & lithographed this advertisement printed by the “Lithographers to the Queen”, Day & Son. This view is an imagined construct of the Crystal Palace transept, brought to life from original architectural designs. We see the cast iron struts and columns creating the two levels: the ground floor left wall is lined with glass cabinets full of books, boxes of board games etc. In the middle area two rows of individual timber & glass cabinets display a huge variety of goods: jewellery & pocket watches, trumpets & other brass instruments, elaborate table decorations for dinner parties, ornate engraved plates, all manner of porcelain ornaments, statues & busts. Along the right wall we see domed taxidermy of natural history & clocks between two metal columns wrapped with botanical decoration. The walk ways and stair cases are full of strolling family groups, couples and individuals: the men in top-hats, gloves & walking canes, the women in their best crinoline dresses, bonnets & bows. To the right foreground we see men perusing leather bound books in front of a stair case that gives visitors an opportunity to view paintings in ornate gilded framed art, then at the top of the stairs the display of framed art continues. All is being eagerly viewed. The metal skeleton of the domed transept holds aloft, what looks to be starred shaped glass panels, with acanthus leaf inspired capitals to the eleven double-layered columns.  The visitors walk on wooden floor boards. A women in the foreground clutches a wrapped box...a purchase perchance? This interior illustration is full of inquisitive energy, certainly a great enticement for the public to visit, once it is built.

The Great Exhibition & Prince Albert, 1851

The Prince Consort to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, was the enlightened visionary that formulated an audacious plan to present the first international display of manufactured products & inventions born out of the Industrial Revolution. It was to be simply known as the GREAT EXHIBITION. But where would this awesome exhibition be put on show to the world?

The Crystal Palace & Joseph Paxton

Hyde Park is a Royal Park, so it was essential that any structure for this ambitious event was to be designated "non-permanent". It was botanist Joseph Paxton who solved this conundrum with a giant glass greenhouse. His winning design was among many that were published in the Illustrated London News. The Industrial Revolution itself was to enable all the elements to come together: for example, glass sheets of a size never before attempted, were manufactured in Birmingham and brought down to London by Rail.

It would shine like a beacon as it show-cased the products of many countries in the British Empire and beyond. More than 14,000 exhibitors in the Palace's 990,000 square feet (92,000m2) of exhibition space showcased technology, from the practical to culturally exotic items. South Australia had a stand, where it displayed the high quality grain for Mount Barker, that was awarded First Prize for the "Best Wheat in the World", only 15 years after settlement.

Paxton's design required not a tree to be removed, so living elm trees in the park were enclosed within the central exhibition hall near the 27-foot (8m) tall Crystal Fountain. It attracted tens of  thousands of visitors from all levels of society, local & international. Local villages were placed in a visiting cycle, usually organized through regional church bodies. It was promoted irresistibly as “See the World for a Penny”. Ultimately this structure could not remain in the Royal Park. Its metal and glass structure was able to be moved to a new park in a healthy and affluent area of London called Sydenham Hill. Crystal Palace was enlarged and stood in the area from 1854 to 1936. It soon became a symbol of modernity and civilization. It was praised by many and decried by others.

Maritime Connection to Sporting Venue

After relocation in 1854, The Crystal Palace Company sort out popular attractions to continue it relevance & revenue generation. This started with the formation of the Crystal Palace Club initially focusing on cricket for summer entertainment. But, in winter they turned their attention to football. The amateur football team named Crystal Palace, first played in the relocated structure in 1861.During World War I, it was used as a naval training establishment under the name of HMS Victory VI, informally known as HMS Crystal Palace. With the invention of Automobiles, the venue hosted car races. The South Tower had been used for tests by television pioneer John Logie Baird for his mechanical television experiments. It seems, what had been built as a temporary structure, had been reinvented as a host for the continuing evolution of technology & popular culture. That finally came to an end on 30 November 1936. Within hours the Palace was destroyed by fire. Winston Churchill, on his way home from the House of Commons lamented , “this is an end of an age”. In hindsight it would not have survived the Blitz. In fact, inability to black out its immensity, the Crystal Palace would have been a Luftwaffe signpost to all the most important London targets.