The Crystal Palace was a great innovation of the industrial revolution in Great Britain. It was both acclaimed and criticized for its design.
The pros of this creation include:
--It was modular (made of standard units that could be easily constructed)
--It could be (and was) disassembled to function for its temporary use
--Made of fairly inexpensive materials (glass and iron)
The cons include:
--A mechanical design that was criticized for its dehumanization and standardization
Stylistically, before the industrial revolution, buildings were made of concrete, stone, and heavy materials. Gothic Revival architecture was still popular, so this lead to the battle between Gothic and Classical. The Crystal Palace lead the way to the modern style and just as expected, cleaner, simpler forms became popular.
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Can you belive that in the 141 days the Exhibition lasted, 6 million people visited the Crystal Palace? http://www.fashion-era.com/the_great_exhibition.htm
Another interesting fact I found was that it was destroyed by a fire in 1936 (I was wondering if it was still around). They didn't have enough insurance to cover the cost of rebuilding. All that was left standing was the two water towers. Those were taken down in WWII because the Germans could have used them to navigate their way to London. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace
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