Very large head of Joseph Paxton in stone, mounted on a tall square brick plinth, facing south east down main avenue towards Penge Gate. It is unfortunately positioned behind a redundant set of gates on the walkway beside the National Sports Centre, so from that side he appears to be peering over the top.
The head has long, flowing locks and is five times life size. High on the plinth is a bronze plaque bearing the inscription which has a round relief of the Crystal Palace as it has when rebuilt in the park after the Great Exhibition. The tall dark brick plinth is slightly tapered towards the top and is stepped at the base. It is set on a concrete base, which in turn stands on a large deep rectangular concrete step.
The bust was put up to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Palace and to commemorate its architect, Joseph Paxton. It was funded by public subscription and unveiled at a fete in June 1873. It was originally located below the Central Pool facing towards the Crystal Palace building. Resited in 1981 it now faces the other way but has to look over the barrier across the concrete walkway of the National Sports Centre.
The original pedestal was designed by Owen Jones.
The Crystal Palace was originally built in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Its full title was The Great Exhibition of the Works and Industry of All Nations, and it brought together manufactured goods and cultural items from all over the world. The Committee planning the exhibition was headed by Prince Albert who was very much involved with the whole enterprise, but they were unable to settle on a satisfactory design for the exhibition building until Joseph Paxton presented them with a revolutionary design, all in glass and cast iron. Paxton was Head Gardener at Chatsworth House and his design was inspired by the rib structure of the giant waterlilies housed there in greenhouses which he had built. Ribs of white-painted cast iron supported the vast windows and it soon came to be known as the Crystal Palace, a name conferred on it in a newspaper article.
The exhibition was a tremendous success with the public and drew in over six million visitors during the five and a half months it was open, from 1 May to 11 October 1851. There had always been a vociferous opposition to the whole idea, and this had ensured that any structure put up in Hyde Park had to be removed at the close of the exhibition. Paxton and others wanted the revolutionary building to survive, and the Crystal Palace Company was formed to buy it and transport it elsewhere. A site was found in south London, Penge Place, Sydenham, at the top of a hill sloping down towards Penge and commanding an extensive view over Kent.
The structure was remodelled when it was rebuilt on this site and made considerably larger than the original had been. It was opened by Queen Victoria on 10 June 1854. In both the Palace and the park which was created round it, the emphasis was on education and spectacle, and planned on a huge scale. Inside the building were permanent collections and space for changing exhibitions. There was a series of Fine Art courts filled with reproductions of sculptures and other works to illustrate different eras in the history of art. Digby Wyatt and Owen Jones were sent abroad to make or obtain plaster casts of statuary to fulfil this concept. Other courts showed plants, animals and artefacts from various countries and ages.
The park, of 200 acres, was laid out with gardens, two huge terraces, many statues, and, notably, an extensive and elaborate series of water features. The grounds are attributed to Edward Milner and Georger Eyles. They incorporated the still extant dinosaur islands, geological features and life-size prehistoric monster models.
Before the park opened, objections were received from 'thirteen eminent persons' that the classical copies were to be displayed in their natural state, namely the 'nude male statues', in front of mixed crowds of men and women. They threatened that if concessions were not made, 'strong feeling' could be stirred up among the public on the matter which would damage the 'magnificent undertaking' of which they approved so much. They demanded the removal of the offending parts and the use of the 'usual leaf' to cover the area. Wyatt and Jones objected strongly but the Directors gave in and the statues were altered although they apparently had difficulty in finding an adequate supply of the plaster leaves needed. Not all critics were satisfied with the measures taken and correspondence dragged on until the Directors called a halt and declared to one objector that they had formed a Committee to examine all the works of art in the palace 'with a view to the draping of all statues which could be justly considered offensive to delicacy' and that they did not intend to do any more on the matter.
The move to Sydenham had been very costly and the enterprise always suffered from a lack of money even though it was popular. Land was sold off for development and by 1911 the Crystal Palace Company was bankrupt. To save the Palace from demolition, the Duke of Plymouth bought it for £230,000, and a fund, the King Edward National Memorial Fund, was started by the Lord Mayor of London. In 1913 the Palace was bought for the nation. After the First World War its popularity revived under the General Manager, Sir Henry Buckland, who gradually restored it. The gardens were tended and the statues, including that of Joseph Paxton, were put back. It again became a venue for many popular events such as concerts, motorcycle racing and other sporting events.
The Palace was destroyed by a fire which broke out on the evening of 30 November 1936, and raged through the building providing a spectacle which was watched from all over London. The building was almost completely destroyed and the site was cleared in 1937. A photograph taken in 1942 when the standing water towers were demolished, shows that there were still statues in the grounds in that year.
In 1951 responsibility for the area passed to the London County Council, later the Greater London Council. They were required to develop the site for the purposes of education and recreation and for the furtherance of commerce, art and industry. Some unsympathetic development took place, notably the very concrete National Sports Centre which is right in the centre of the park, sited where the great fountain basins had been in.
The area has been subject to much vandalism over the years and in 1957 there was a huge sale of sculpture from the palace. Traces of original buildings and some of the landscaping features remain, as well as some which show the sporting, musical and other uses to which areas of the park were put over the years. The main reminders today of the splendours of the Crystal Palace's original displays, are six sphinxes, some badly damaged statuary, the large sculpture of the head of Paxton, and the lake with the geological features and dinosaur models. Bromley Council is now taking the park in hand, with the aid of Heritage Lottery funding. Various projects are underway to conserve and restore the historical features of the park and improve the whole environment, although as the sporting facilities at its centre have now been listed, there is a restriction on what can be done.
Sir Joseph Paxton 1803-65, designer of the building in glass and iron which housed the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park. This ran from 1 May 1851 to 15 October 1851. The building was later transported to Sydenham and rebuilt and remodelled on a larger scale and set in a park to provide a permanent leisure and educational facility. By then the building was known as the Crystal Palace and gave its name to the area. Paxton was Head Gardener to the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth and built conservatories there to house giant tropical water lilies. His design for the original Crystal Palace was based on the rib formations of the lilies. After many other plans had all been rejected by the organising committee for the Exhibition, Paxton produced the blueprints for his revolutionary design in nine days. He was knighted as a result of the Exhibition. He became Liberal Member of Parliament for Coventry and held the seat until his death in 1865.
Inscriptions
On a bronze plaque set on brick plinth beneath head on south east side. Plaque is shaped at the top with a circle in which is a representation in relief of the Crystal Palace as rebuilt in Sydenham:
Sir Joseph Paxton MP
1803-1865
creator of
The Crystal Palace
which stood near this site
from 1854-1936
Greater London Council 1981 Crystal Palace Foundation