--- description: A marvel of the Victorian era, the Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire on Nov. 30, 1936 title: Video: Crystal Palace Destroyed by Fire image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Disaster](/tag/disaster/) ## Disaster Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See Vintage Video of the Fire That Destroyed the Crystal Palace by [Dean Nicholas / History Today](/author/history-today/) ## Dean Nicholas / History Today Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2015 6:00 PM CUT by [Dean Nicholas / History Today](/author/history-today/) ## Dean Nicholas / History Today Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 30, 2015 6:00 PM CUT  History Today _This post is in partnership with_[ _History Today_](http://historytoday.com "undefined")_. The article below was originally published at_ [_HistoryToday.com._](http://www.historytoday.com/dean-nicholas/video-crystal-palace-destroyed "undefined") Opened by Queen Victoria for the [Great Exhibition](http://www.historytoday.com/geoffrey-cantor/great-exhibition-commerce-christianity "undefined") of 1851, the Crystal Palace, a vast steel-and-glass structure designed by Joseph Paxton, was originally sited in Hyde Park. When the Exhibition ended, the Palace was bought up by a private company, dismantled and moved to Sydenham, south-east London, where it was re-built as the centerpiece of an expansive new garden, complete with (inaccurate) models of dinosaurs. Despite these attractions the ‘Acropolis of Empire’ was not a financial success, despite a dedicated railway line from central London ferrying visitors to it, and was eventually purchased by the government in 1909. On November 30th 1936, a fire began in the cloakroom. The flames spread quickly, aided by strong winds and the timber flooring used throughout, and the entire building was soon destroyed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4129126/crystal-palace-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4129126/crystal-palace-video/"},"headline":"See Vintage Video of the Fire That Destroyed the Crystal Palace","datePublished":"2015-11-30T18:00:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:50.764Z","description":"A marvel of the Victorian era, the Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire on Nov. 30, 1936","url":"https://time.com/4129126/crystal-palace-video/","keywords":["Disaster","fire","video"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dean Nicholas / History Today"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/disaster/","name":"Disaster"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4129126/crystal-palace-video/","name":"See Vintage Video of the Fire That Destroyed the Crystal Palace"}}]}] ```