On the night of 30 November 1936, horrified onlookers gathered to watch as fire crews battled an inferno over 100ft high. A famous landmark, the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, was one whole sheet of flame; the blaze could be seen as far away as Brighton. When morning came, the Palace was a tangled, smoking ruin.

The Palace started its working life as the showcase for the Great Exhibition of the Industries of All Nations in 1851: the largest, most ambitious international trade event ever attempted at that date. Albert, the Prince Consort, was the prime mover behind the Great Exhibition, and was head of the Royal Commission in charge of the proceedings.

The immense scale of the Exhibition – over 22 acres of floor space – meant that an enormous site was needed. Hyde Park was chosen, despite protests from local residents. Six much-loved large elm trees were endangered by the proposed building: a permanent edifice comprising 15 million bricks topped by an iron dome, designed by famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The public hated this design, and it looked as if the exhibition would be cancelled.

Then the Duke of Devonshire’s head gardener, Joseph Paxton, stepped in with a stunning new design. Paxton had previously built a Great Conservatory and a giant Lily-House made from glass and iron at the Duke’s Chatsworth estate. Paxton’s wonderful glass-house design for the exhibition included an arched transept large enough to enclose the elm trees.

This revolutionary ‘Crystal Palace’ caught the public’s imagination and building work began on 1 August 1850. The Palace’s ‘modular’ construction was also a triumph for the new techniques of mass-production. Chance Bros of Birmingham manufactured the 900,000 sq ft of glass (400 tons) needed. Fox, Henderson & Co forged the 550 tons of wrought iron and 3500 tons of cast iron required, and constructed the building, which measured 1848 ft (563m) long and 408ft (124m) across at its widest part (F Shenton and Samuel Phillips, Guide to the Crystal Palace, Bradbury & Evans, 1858).

When the Great Exhibition was opened by Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort on 1 May 1851, it was the greatest show on earth. Its 14,000 exhibits included a model of Liverpool Dock complete with 1600 fully-rigged ships; steam engines, textile machinery, artificial limbs, marble statues, the Koh-i-noor Diamond, and ingenious inventions such as a collapsible piano for gentlemen’s yachts. The exhibition clocked up over six million visitors, and the profits used to found the South Kensington Museums.

However, when Prince Albert officially closed the Exhibition on 15 October, the public were dismayed to learn that their fairy-tale palace must now be dismantled (a pre-condition for using the Hyde Park site). Joseph Paxton, too, was anxious for his wonderful creation to continue. Paxton, Samuel Laing, John Scott Russell and others raised the money to buy the palace. The Crystal Palace Company was formed, and land at Penge Park, on Sydenham Hill, purchased with the aim of creating a new palace and gardens.

Fox, Henderson & Co dismantled the original Crystal Palace, and were contracted to build the new one. Its first cast-iron support column was erected on 5 August 1852 by Samuel Laing. A whole new railway line was built from London Bridge to Sydenham by the Brighton Railway Company for easy access from the capital.

The new palace was on a grander scale than the original. The height of the nave was 174ft 3in above the ground, compared with 64ft for the exhibition building. Twenty-five acres of glass and over 9600 tons of iron were used in its construction. Over a million pounds was spent on this glittering extravaganza and its pleasure grounds. Unfortunately, this vast capital outlay was a millstone round its owners’ neck throughout its working life.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were again the guests of honour when the sparkling new Crystal Palace opened to the public on 10 June 1854. Its wonders included a beautiful crystal fountain by Osler of Birmingham; tropical plants and exotic trees; a Sculpture Court; Greek, Roman and Assyrian Courts; architectural and engineering models, a library, concert hall, and dining room.

The 200-acre gardens were designed by Paxton reflecting English and Italian styles with terraces and flower gardens. The splendid fountains were said to rival those at the palace of Versailles. Two towers nearly 300ft high supplied water to the fountains.

The people’s education was not forgotten; the south-eastern end of the park was home to geological displays of the earth’s many different rocks. A lake had islands with models of life-size extinct animals and dinosaurs.

The Crystal Palace was best known for its entertainments, however. Concerts, fireworks, flower shows and fetes were standard fare. The great central transept was home to the Handel Festival Orchestra, and a giant organ was built by Gray and Davison. The theatre staged plays, pantos and ballets. Admission cost one shilling (5p) on a weekday, or two shillings and sixpence on Saturdays.

Most unfortunately, the palace was closed on Sundays (because people were expected to attend church). This meant many working-class people could not go, as Sunday was usually their only day off. So the palace’s owners could never fully exploit its financial potential.

A dreadful fire in December 1866 destroyed the Palace’s north transept, library and reading room, and sadly most of the birds and animals in the tropical department perished (as reported in The Times, 31 December 1866, 2 January 1867). The northern wing was only partly rebuilt.

The huge cost of maintaining the site began to take its toll and in 1909 bankruptcy loomed. The now much-neglected palace and parks were seemingly doomed, despite being the venue for the Festival of Empire in 1911 to celebrate George V’s coronation. But when the Crystal Palace Company advertised the site for sale, the mayor of London, the Times, and others raised sufficient funds to buy the palace for the nation. By the outbreak of WW1, the Crystal Palace Trust had been formed to maintain it as a place of education and recreation.

The war years were not kind to the park, however. It was used as a Royal Naval Volunteers’ training depot, and the palace, its great organ, and parks required restoration before it reopened in 1920. Millions of visitors enjoyed its exhibitions and festivals once again.

Another programme of restoration had just been completed when the disastrous fire of 1936 struck. The terrific blaze destroyed over two-thirds of the palace, and the nation mourned its loss.

The palace site entered its twilight years. A fire broke out in the ruins of the north transept on 19 August 1937 (The Times, 20 August), but was swiftly extinguished. From the late 1920s until the early 1970s, part of the site was used as a racing circuit (except during the Second World War). Even more damage was caused when the government used the park for war work; both towers were demolished.

Yet another fire broke out in 1950, and the following year the London County Council took over the Crystal Palace site and the Trust was wound up.

The ‘People’s Palace’ is no more. But you can still explore the dinosaur park and maze, and see some of the Egyptian sphinxes and the garden terraces – tantalising relics from its glory days.