Crystal Palace School

The South Tower was demolished in the early 1940s[3] but a surviving part of the School of Engineering's premises is now the Crystal Palace Museum.

The end of the Crystal Palace brings to mind memories of the School of Engineering which was housed in the South Tower, fortunately still standing firm as a rock.

This school, founded by J. W. Wilson, M.I.M.E., an engineer who helped to build the Great Exhibition of 1851, sent many of its students to the four quarters of the globe.

In the Civil Engineering section we surveyed the whole of the grounds, and drew plans and made estimates for an imaginary railway which extended from one side to the other.

Concerning the rigidity of the South Tower, I was working in a high storey soon after joining the school when there was a strong wind, and, feeling giddy, I mentioned it to the superintendent.

Sydenham 1854
Sir George Grove in the 1890s
A Handel festival in the concert hall in 1857
The Crystal Palace Museum
Anerley Hill, Crystal Palace, London SE19. The South Tower base is just to the left.
The South Tower after the fire; much of John Logie Baird 's television equipment was destroyed.