CRYSTAL PALACE, a grand museum of art and science on the mutual border of Surrey and Kent, 1 mile WSW of Sydenham. The London Bridge, Crystal Palace, and Victoria railway circles to it from London at London Bridge and Victoria station; has a station for it, 7½ miles from London Bridge, and 8¾ from Victoria station; and connects variously with the Southwestern, the Brighton, and the Dover and Chatham railways. The Crystal Palace and South London Junction railway, 6¼ miles long, and opened in Aug. 1865, also connects the Crystal Palace communication at Sydenham with the Metropolitan extension of the London, Chatham, and Dover. The Crystal palace was originally erected in Hyde Park, after designs by Sir Joseph Paxton, for the Exhibition of 1851: and was re-erected, on its present site in 1854. It consists of a nave with side aisles, two main galleries, two wings, and three transepts. The nave is 1, 608 feet long, 72 wide, and 110 high; the central transept, 384 feet long, 120 wide, and 174 high; the end transepts, 312 feet long, 72 wide, and 110 high. Any tolerable vidimus of the disposition and contents would be too long for our limits; and is rendered unnecessary by the excellent hand-books sold on the spot. A park of 200 acres adjoins the palace; and is enriched with terraces, gardens, wondrous water-works, and a geological arrangement.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))