title: Palace of the People : The Crystal Palace at Sydenham 1854-1936
author:  Jan Piggott 
description: This text traces the rise and fall of what became known as "The People's Palace", the Crystal Palace at Sydenham in South London. With its stark geometrical design it was architecturally years ahead of its time, but it was also a fascinating and idealistic social laboratory of entertainment and information that foreshadowed much that we take for granted in today's theme parks, zoos and shopping malls. Based on Paxton's design for the Great Exhibition in 1851, after its relocation to Sydenham the Crystal Palace was much enlarged, with three transepts instead of one, and used twice the amount of glass as in Hyde Park in 1851. Among the topics explored by Jan Piggott are the personalities behind the Crystal Palace. He also investigates what went on there. He draws on eye-witness accounts, both from memoirs and newspapers, so that the reader gets a sense of what visiting Crystal Palace was like in an era before film or television. As much as the spectacular structure itself, the Crystal Palace drew visitors for over 80 years because of the amazing series of exhibitions and nationals ceremonials staged there. It also attracted the cream of British and European society.
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  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
  a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any method, electronic,
  mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
  The Author – Wendy Soliman.
  
  Saving Grace - Copyright Wendy Soliman 2014
  
  This e-Book is a work of fiction. While references may be made to actual
  places or events, the names, characters, incidents, and locations within are
  from the author’s imagination and are not a resemblance to actual living or
  dead persons, businesses or events.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Author’s Note
  
  I lived in South London for many years, close to where the Great Exhibition,
  or the Crystal Palace as it became known, was relocated until it burned down
  in 1936. Ruins still remain. Given that I was brought up on the Isle of Wight,
  a stone’s throw from Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s island retreat, I suppose
  it was inevitable that I would eventually combine 