The Crystal Palace
I used to walk home through the ruined grounds of this when I was at school. It was fenced off and pretty strange and creepy. Headless statues and vast terraces of stone alcoves. Almost looked like it could be from a game like Journey.
It's now been tidied up and is open to the public as part of the park. I'm glad I got to experience it when it was still strange and mysterious.
There's also an abandoned train station and huge blocked off train tunnel quite near. We used to make up ghost stories about the place.
There's a building in Dallas, Texas called the Infomart that looks like it might have taken inspiration from it: https://cdn.bisnow.net/fit?height=489&type=jpeg&url=https%3A...
Edit: Ah, so not a coincidence...
"The design was modeled after The Crystal Palace, a huge iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park in 19th century Britain"
I live quite close to what is now crystal palace park. I would have loved to have seen the building, even in ruins. It boggles my mind how the Victorians even managed to relocate the entire structure from Hyde park, especially given that the crystal palace park site is on the top of a massive hill (in fact one of the highest points in greater London). The park now is a nice place to go walking and hang out in the summer. There's a natural bowl area which would be great for concerts if only the local council can get their act together to refurbish the stage.
The Crystal Place became a symbol in 19th century Russian literature. These two articles are by a specialist who adds "I live in Crystal Palace and have been reading up on the palace itself and the area, exploring the ruins and generally gaining a new perspective."
The socialist utopian Chernyshevsky ("What is to be done?") celebrated it as a triumph of progress and modernity:
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/04/20/crystal-palace-russia...
Dostoevsky visited it and hated it, and used it for one of his most famous anti-utopian invectives:
http://sarahjyoung.com/site/2010/04/22/the-crystal-palace-in...
I've been to the ruins, which are atop a lovely park. It's a real shame that it never got rebuilt.
In a similar vein in Vienna there was also the Rotunde built for the Vienna World Fair of 1873 which burned down in 1937.
Sometimes I feel like the Victorian era was bad fiction. Who would believe this?
* Designed and costed in two weeks * Eight months from design acceptance to building completion *100% modular; reassembled into a different building after the event
Can I urge people interested in this to hunt down Bill Bryson reading his own book "At Home" - the first chapter is mostly the crystal palace history and is fascinating
If you want to walk through the Crystal Palace, a virtual copy is being constructed in Second Life by the city-state of New Babbage. Opening next spring.
I think it's a great read that shows how projects (including IT) can be effective if you find right approach for the task.
Not to be confused with Crystal Palace FC.
