[1] It was laid out in the 1850s as a pleasure ground, centred around the re-location of The Crystal Palace – the largest glass building of the time – from central London to this area on the border of Kent and Surrey; the suburb that grew around the park is known by the same name.

[2] This site contains the National Sports Centre, previously a football stadium that hosted the FA Cup Final from 1895 to 1914 as well as Crystal Palace F.C.

This ridge offers views northward to central London, eastward to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and Greenwich, and southward to Croydon and the North Downs.

[3] The 389-acre site consisted of woodland and the grounds of the mansion known as Penge Place owned by Paxton's friend and railway entrepreneur Leo Schuster.

[5] The development of ground and gardens of the park (which straddled the border between Surrey and Kent[6]) cost considerably more than the rebuilt Crystal Palace.

[7] The series of fountains constructed required the building of two 284 ft (87 m) high water towers, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, at either end of the palace.

[8] The sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was commissioned to make 33 lifesized models, completed in 1854, of the (then) newly discovered dinosaurs and other extinct animals in the park.

In 1864, Thomas Webster Rammell experimented with a 600-yard pneumatic railway in the tunnel between the Sydenham and Penge gates to the park.

The north water tower was demolished in 1941, perhaps to eliminate landmarks that German bombers might use to orient themselves during air raids in the Second World War.

[13] A 400 ft-long Marine Aquarium was built in 1872 on a part of The Crystal Palace site left vacant after a fire in 1866, but it was not a financial success.

Six thousand girls joined when the organisation was founded in 1910.In the northern corner of the park is the Crystal Palace Bowl, a natural amphitheatre where large open-air summer concerts were held for nearly 60 years, including Pink Floyd, Elton John, Eric Clapton and the Beach Boys.

The Bowl hosted Bob Marley's largest and last ever concert in London on 7 June 1980, which was commemorated in October 2020 when a blue plaque was affixed to the structure.

[29] The stage was rebuilt in 1996 with a permanent structure designed by Ian Ritchie, which was nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize, but it later fell into a state of disrepair and became inactive as a music venue.

[30][31] In 2020, London Borough of Bromley Council announced they are working with a local action group to find "creative and community-minded business proposals to reactivate the cherished concert platform".

[34] The park is one of the starting points for the Green Chain Walk, linking to places such as Chislehurst, Erith, the Thames Barrier and Thamesmead.

[39] In 2007, a £67 million master plan was drawn up by London Development Agency which includes the building of a new sports centre, the creation of a tree canopy to mimic the outline of the palace, the restoration of the Paxton Axis walkway through the park, but it also included a controversial proposal for housing on two parts of the park.

[40] It won government backing in 2010, and the plans were upheld by the High Court in 2012 after a challenge by a local group, the Crystal Palace Community Association.

announced plans to relocate the club back to the site of the NSC from their current Selhurst Park home, redeveloping it into a 25,000-seater, purpose-built football stadium.

[48] In February 2020 Bromley Council submitted a planning application for a £40 million park regeneration project, adapted from the 2007 masterplan.