Some Wonderful Colorized Photographs,

of the late Crystal Palace, 

all original images public domain, it was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, the 990,000 square foot building with its 128 foot high ceiling was completed in thirty-nine weeks, when the exhibition closed it was then moved to an open area of South London known as Penge Place which had been excised from Penge Common, it was rebuilt at the top of Penge Peak next to Sydenham Hill, an affluent suburb of large villas, it stood there from June 1854 until its destruction by fire in November 1936, the nearby residential area was renamed Crystal Palace after the landmark, 

as it happens my father, a nipper at the time, can remember when living in Plumstead the night sky red with the glow of the fire so many miles away, and the good news is that a Crystal Palace enthusiast, Brian White, colourised a set of amazing pictures of what the palace looked like, Brian, 54, from Poole in Dorset, has loved the palace since he bought a book about the palace as a child, and then visited the site with his family, Brian loves the palace and the magic he felt as a kid has never left him. He visits the remains of the palace in Crystal Palace Park when he has a chance as he finds it "very magical and awe-inspiring." He continued: "The fact that you can still touch pieces of the Crystal Palace is magical. You can still see six sphynxes and three different flights of steps. If you know the layout of the palace you can figure out exactly where you are, and here are some more lovely colourised images from Brian,

above and below, after the fire, 

since our return to the UK we have often walked around Crystal Palace Park, a couple of visits here and here, and looked at the dinosaurs there, many thanks to Brian for making such wonderful coloured photographs, after seeing so many black and white ones over the years his renditions really bring life to the palace.