The Crystal Palace was the name given to the world famous building which housed the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London's Hyde Park. Its design was approved by a committee which included eminent railway engineers Brunei, Robert Stephenson and railway architect William Cubitt. They approved a phenomenal design by Joseph Paxton which enclosed just under a million square feet beneath iron and sheet plate glass. It was a wonder of the age, but only a temporary one as the exhibition itself only had a shelf life of six months. After that the building was bought by a commercial company who looked for a suitable place to relocate it, a pre-condition being that it needed to have excellent transport links to move the crowds who would come to visit. They took advice from one of the directors of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. This gentleman had a large plot of land on a hilltop in South London at Sydenham available, and there was the promise of the building of a railway line and station specially to serve it. The relocation and rebuilding of the great 'pleasure palace' took place and as promised a short branch was built from the main London Bridge to Brighton main line from the existing Sydenham station.
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