From the archives: The Crystal Palace’s leaking roof, 1851

By Tom Lowe2023-01-20T07:00:00

“Within all was bustle”… the third of our archive pieces celebrating Building’s 180th anniversary is an eye witness account of the chaotic scene at the Crystal Palace construction site as workers rush to get the building finished just weeks before the opening of the Great Exhibition

In the third in our series of archives piece celebrating Building’s 180th anniversary, we have found an editorial from 1851 recording the frantic efforts to get the Crystal Palace ready for the Great Exhibition held that year in Hyde Park. Less than a month before the event was due to open to the six million Victorians who would visit, there was still an “enormous” amount of work unfinished.

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