Crystal Palace is a place in South London, named after the Crystal Palace Exhibition building which stood in the area from 1854, until it was destroyed by a fire in 1936.Mills, Anthony David (2001). Dictionary of London Place Names. Oxford University Press. About southeast of Charing Cross, it includes one of the highest points in London, at , offering views over the capital.

The area has no defined boundaries and straddles five London boroughs and three postal districts, although there is a Crystal Palace electoral ward and Crystal Palace Park in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms a group of the greater area known as Upper Norwood, and is contiguous with the areas of Anerley, Dulwich Wood, Gipsy Hill, Penge, South Norwood and Sydenham. The area is represented by four parliamentary constituencies, four London Assembly constituencies and fourteen local councillors.

Until development began in the 19th century, and before the arrival of the Crystal Palace, the area was known as Sydenham Hill. The Norwood Ridge and an historic oak tree were used to mark parish boundaries. After the Crystal Palace burned down in 1936, the site of the building and its grounds became Crystal Palace Park, the location of the National Sports Centre which contains an athletics track, stadium and other sports facilities. Crystal Palace Park has also been used as the setting for a number of concerts and films, such as The Italian Job and The Pleasure Garden and contains the Crystal Palace Park Concert Platform, in place since 1997.

Two television transmitter masts make the district a landmark location, visible from many parts of Greater London. Local landmarks include the Crystal Palace Triangle, a shopping district made up of three streets forming a triangle; Westow Park, a smaller park that lies off the triangle southwest of Crystal Palace Park; and the Stambourne Woodland Walk.

Crystal Palace was named in the Sunday Times newspaper's top ten list of "the best places to live in London" of 2016. In April 2022 Crystal Palace was named the best place to live in London by the Sunday Times, being characterised by a bohemian fusion of urban vibes and village-feel.

History

The ridge and the historic oak tree known as the Vicar's Oak (at the crossroads of the A212 Church Road and A214 Westow Hill) were used to mark parish boundaries. This has led to the Crystal Palace area straddling the boundaries of five London Boroughs; Bromley, Croydon, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham. The area also straddles three postcode districts: , , and . The ancient boundary between Surrey and Kent passes through the area, and until 1889 included parts of both counties. From 1889 to 1965 the area was on the south-eastern boundary of the County of London.

For centuries the area was covered by the Great North Wood, an extensive area of natural oak forest that formed a wilderness close to the southern edge of the then expanding city of London. The forest was a popular area for Londoners' recreation right up to the 19th century, when it began to be built over. It also became a home for some Romani people, with local street names and pubs recording the link, and the area still retains vestiges of woodland.

A pneumatic railway was briefly trialled in the area in 1864. Once the railways arrived, Crystal Palace was eventually served by two railway stations, the high level and low level stations, built to handle the large volume of passengers visiting the exhibition building. After the Palace was destroyed by fire, and with railway travel declining, passenger numbers fell and the high level station was closed in 1954 and demolished seven years later. Rail services gradually declined, and for a period in the 1960s and 1970s, there were plans to construct an urban motorway through the area as part of the London Ringways plan. With rising passenger numbers, additional London Overground services began stopping at the station and a major station redevelopment occurred.

The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton, was a remarkable construction of prefabricated parts. It was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Following the success of the exhibition, the Palace was moved and reconstructed in 1854 in a modified and enlarged form in the grounds of the Penge Place estate at Sydenham Hill. The buildings housed the Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and Literature and Crystal Palace School of Engineering. It attracted visitors for over seven decades.

Sydenham Hill is one of the highest locations in London; 109 metres (357 ft) above sea level (spot height on Ordnance Survey Map); and the size of the Palace and prominence of the site made it easy to identify from much of London. This led to the residential area around the building becoming known as Crystal Palace instead of Sydenham Hill. The Palace was destroyed by fire on 30 November 1936 and the site of the building and its grounds is now known as Crystal Palace Park.

Landmarks

Crystal Palace Triangle

The area is formed by Westow Street, Westow Hill and Church Road, and has a number of restaurants and several independent shops, as well as an indoor secondhand market and a farmer's market on Haynes Lane. The triangle also contains a range of vintage furniture and clothing stores, as well as galleries, arts and crafts shops and other businesses. There was an ongoing campaign to turn a former bingo hall (at 25 Church Road) back into a cinema, after it had been purchased by the Kingsway International Christian Centre. The cinema had opened as "The Rialto" in 1928, later being renamed "The Picture Palace", only to close in 1968 and become a bingo hall. In 2018 after considerable restoration and renovation, Everyman Cinemas re-opened 25 Church Road as their 25th nationwide cinema location.

Transmitters Television transmission has been taking place from Crystal Palace since at least the 1930s and two TV transmitter towers — Crystal Palace Transmitter – tall — and Croydon Transmitter – tall — stand on the hill at Upper Norwood, making the district a landmark location visible from many parts of London. The towers may appear similar in height and design, but the Crystal Palace mast, constructed in 1956, is on a slightly higher elevation. The current Croydon tower was built in 1962.

Crystal Palace Park

Crystal Palace Park is a large Victorian pleasure ground occupying much of the land within Crystal Palace and is one of the major London public parks. The park was maintained by the LCC and later the GLC, but with the abolition of the GLC in 1986, control of the entire park was given to the London Borough of Bromley. From 15 September 2023 responsibility for the park's management has been handed to the Crystal Palace Park Trust. Crystal Palace railway station is located by the park, as is the National Sports Centre. The park was formerly used for sports such as cricket, football and motor racing, and has been a venue for concerts often performed at the site of the Crystal Palace Park Concert Platform. In recent years the park has played host to organised music events such as Wireless Festival and South Facing Festival. It is also home to the famous Crystal Palace Dinosaur sculptures.

The park is situated halfway along Norwood Ridge at one of its highest points. This ridge offers views northwards to central London, east to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and Greenwich, and southward to Croydon and the North Downs. It is also one of the starting points for the Green Chain Walk, linking to places such as Chislehurst, Erith, the Thames Barrier and Thamesmead. Section 3 of the Capital Ring walk round London goes through the park.

Westow Park A smaller park occupying is to the southwest of the triangle on Church Road. Westow Park hosts the annual Crystal Palace Overground festival, a free community festival held over four days in the summer.

Stambourne Woods To the south of the triangle is a small area of woodland occupying , containing the Stambourne Woodland Walk. It was opened in 1984 and covers an area between developments on Stambourne Way and Fox Hill. The land originally formed the gardens of Victorian villas built on the hill overlooking Croydon, but fell into disrepair. In 1962, the Croydon Council approved terms for buying the land from the Church Commissioners and other local freeholders, allowing the construction of a link. Paths and benches were installed but much of the vegetation was left undisturbed, creating a woodland pathway.

Saint Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church At 69 Westow Street is an ornate Greek Orthodox Church which serves the Greek Cypriot and Orthodox community in the surrounding area. Built in 1878, and formerly an Anglican church (St. Andrew's), the walls are now dressed in ornate Byzantine-style art.

Geography

Crystal Palace is about southeast of Charing Cross on Norwood Ridge and includes one of the highest points of London at 112 metres above the mean sea level (OS map reference TQ337707). The Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, in the centre of the park, is above the mean sea level. The soil in the area has been classified as typically "Slowly permeable, seasonally wet, slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils", with impeded drainage, moderate fertility and a loamy profile. The nearest Met Office climate station is based in Greenwich Park.

Local government Crystal Palace is on the boundary of four London boroughs – Bromley, Croydon, Lambeth and Southwark. A fifth borough – Lewisham – is nearby. As a result, the area is served by a diverse range of local government bodies and Members of Parliament (MPs).

Party colours Colour Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats

Local authorities

Several local authority councillors in the area were elected on 5 May 2022. All seats bar 1 are held by Labour party candidates. The elected officials by ward for Crystal Palace local authorities in October 2023 were:

Local Authority Ward   Elected CouncillorsBromley Crystal Palace & Anerley Ruth McGregor Ryan Thomson Croydon Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood Claire Bonham Nina Degrads Patsy CummingsLambeth Gipsy Hill Christine Banton Rebecca SpencerSouthwark Dulwich Wood Andy Simmons Catherine RoseLewisham Sydenham Chris Best Liam Curran Jack Lavery

London Assembly The area is represented by four constituencies in the London Assembly. Their elected assembly members in 2024 were:

London Assembly Constituency   Elected Member Croydon and Sutton Neil Garratt Bexley and Bromley Thomas Turrell Greenwich and Lewisham Len Duvall Lambeth and Southwark Marina Ahmad

Westminster Parliament The area is represented by four constituencies in the Westminster Parliament. In July 2024, their elected MPs were: Constituency   MP Beckenham and Penge Liam Conlon Croydon North Steve Reed Dulwich and West Norwood Helen Hayes Lewisham West and East Dulwich Ellie Reeves

Media

Films

The Italian Job has a scene filmed at the athletics track in the Crystal Palace sports centre, in which Michael Caine says, "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" The Pleasure Garden was also filmed in the park and Our Mother's House has a scene featuring Dirk Bogarde with several children on the park's boating lake.

The park features prominently as the setting of an outdoor rave in the music video for The Chemical Brothers' number 1 single "Setting Sun".

Literature