Tuesday 13 March 2007

A Crystal Palace Postcard

The Crystal Palace
A CRYSTAL PALACE POSTCARD


A postcard view from an album produced for the Oxford Street department store Peter Robinson, as a souvenir gift, somewhere around the turn of the century.

3 comments:

  1. What a beautiful view! Is that the most infamous fountain pictured in the front, the one that was rarely turned on because it was so powerful, bystands got soaked by the jets of water?

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  2. Unfortunately I don't know about the fountain ... there certainly were several lined up in front of the palace, as this pic from the opposite direction makes clear

    The Queen's London, page 17

    See also
    here and here for the ruins ...!

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  3. Thanks. I thought the postcard must've been from after 1852 when the palace was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham, and Paxton designed a 'Grand System' of fountains on the new grounds that was only turned on a few times a year, partly because of the huge expense of all that water, and partly because the jets were incredibly powerful. I understand when they did turn on the Grand System, it cost extra to view it. Oh, to have a time machine! :-)

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