Sounds charming. Well, not everyone thought so. Colonel Sibthorp, the Conservative English MP from the constituency of Lincoln in 1851 certainly did not think so. For him, it was a celebration of free trade. And he was right. And it was also the site of considerable social anxiety, carefully arranged so that the classes would not mingle. But there was a limit to how much they could prevent mingling, given that the middle and industrious and the idle aristocracy were all invited and welcomed and (the last least perhaps) celebrated. He, disliking free trade and despising class mingling, had this to say:The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and plate-glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's 990,000 square feet (92,000 m2) of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m). Because of the recent invention of the cast plate glass method in 1848, which allowed for large sheets of cheap but strong glass, it was at the time the largest amount of glass ever seen in a building and astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights, thus a "Crystal Palace".
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With regard to the flourishing state of trade and manufactures, let them go down to the city he had just left [Lincoln], and they would soon find what was thought there of free trade, and of that which he did most strenuously condemn-that fraud upon the public called a "Glass House"-the "Crystal Palace"-that accursed building, erected to encourage the foreigner at the expense of the already grievously-distressed English artisan. Would to God-he had often wished it-that a heavy hailstorm or a visitation of lightning would but a stop to the further progress of that work ! Their property, their wives and families would be at the mercy of pickpockets and whoremongers from every part of the earth. Oh, it would be a beautiful sight! There was a charming building, and there would be the most entertaining recreation provided. This was another specimen of the encouragement of free trade.From Hansard, Feb. 4th 1851, c.106.
Photo by R. Hooghe [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
