The Crystal Palace - Destruction By Fire

Destruction By Fire

On 30 November 1936 came the final catastrophe – fire. Within hours the Palace was destroyed: the glow was visible across eight counties. That night, Buckland was walking his dog near the palace, with his daughter (Crystal Buckland, named after the palace) when they noticed a red glow within. Inside, he found two of his employees fighting a small office fire, that had started after an explosion in the women's cloakroom. Realising that it was a serious fire, they called the Penge fire brigade. But, even though 89 fire engines and over 400 firemen arrived they were unable to extinguish it. (The fire spread quickly in the high winds that night, because it could consume the dry old timber flooring, and the huge quantity of flammable materials in the building.) Buckland said, "In a few hours we have seen the end of the Crystal Palace. Yet it will live in the memories not only of Englishmen, but the whole world". 100,000 people came to Sydenham Hill to watch the blaze, among them Winston Churchill, who said, "This is the end of an age".

Just as in 1866, when the north transept burnt down, the building was not adequately insured to cover the cost of rebuilding (at least two million pounds).

The South Tower had been used for tests by television pioneer John Logie Baird for his mechanical television experiments, and much of his work was destroyed in the fire.

The last singer to perform there before the fire was the Australian ballad contralto Essie Ackland.