<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Design and construction </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Architect </Th> <Td> Joseph Paxton </Td> </Tr> <P> The Crystal Palace was a cast - iron and plate - glass structure originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851 . More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its 990,000 - square - foot (92,000 m) exhibition space to display examples of technology developed in the Industrial Revolution . Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m). It was three times larger than the size of St Paul's Cathedral . The introduction of the sheet glass method into Britain by Chance Brothers in 1832 made possible the production of large sheets of cheap but strong glass, and its use in the Crystal Palace created a structure with the greatest area of glass ever seen in a building and astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights . </P> <P> It has been suggested that the name of the building resulted from a piece penned by the playwright Douglas Jerrold, who in July 1850 wrote in the satirical magazine Punch about the forthcoming Great Exhibition, referring to a "palace of very crystal". </P>

The crystal palace built for the london universal exposition of 1851 was 1/3 of a mile in length