Today, this hilly south-east London community is at once suburban and creative, with a stronghold of independent shops, a large park and a family-friendly feel. When the Crystal Palace was painstakingly rebuilt on a site at the summit of Sydenham Hill, it gave its name to a nearby neighbourhood, which remained so after the structure burned down in 1936. Playwright Douglas Jerrold was so struck by the edifice that he described it in the satirical magazine Punch as “a palace of very crystal” – and it was a moniker that captured the imagination of Victorian London. Of all the curious names of the capital’s various corners – from Swiss Cottage to Elephant and Castle – perhaps none are as fascinating as Crystal Palace: a reference to the behemoth glass building that hosted the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in the middle of the 19th century.
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