The Crystal Palace from Penge

The painting shows the Crystal Palace, the monumental glass building erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Following the exhibition, the structure was dismantled and rebuilt to a slightly different plan at Sydenham in south London, opening in 1854. Warren shows the Crystal Palace shimmering in the sun at its new site, surrounded by what remained largely open countryside. One wing of the building, shown here, was destroyed by fire in 1866. The rest was destroyed by fire in 1936.