Introduction
Sir Joseph Paxton, a consultant to the Duke of Devonshire, was the man who designed the ‘Crystal Palace,’ the enormous cast iron and glass conservatory that housed the Great Exhibition of 1851 seen by over six million people. Not only was the design groundbreaking, but the way Paxton brought it to the attention of the Building Committee was decidedly modern too.
IN 1847, the Society of Arts organised a small exhibition of manufacturing products in their rooms near the Strand. Two more exhibitions followed in 1848 and 1849, and such was their success that the talk was soon of something altogether more grand. The President, Prince Albert, took the initiative and on June 30th, 1849, a Committee meeting at Buckingham Palace outlined plans for a Great Collection of Works of Industry and Art, to be held in London in 1851.
The Committee decided to host the fair in Hyde Park, and invited tenders for a suitable building; but out of some 245 submissions from British and foreign architects none was found satisfactory. The Committee proposed their own, but their plans were widely criticised: the Exhibition was due to last just twenty-four weeks, and many feared that their traditional bricks-and-mortar edifice in the Park would be too destructive to build, and too expensive to take down.
It was amid this controversy that a breathtaking design of iron and glass suddenly appeared in the Illustrated London News.
Eighteen plans were highly praised, including three from the United Kingdom and fifteen from abroad. None was accepted.
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