Structural iron and prefabrication (Crystal Palace)
Hierro estructural y prefabricación (Crystal Palace)
- Date
- 1851 · confidence high
- Place
- London (Hyde Park), England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Joseph Paxton (with Charles Fox and William Cubitt)
- People
- 👤 Joseph Paxton1804–1865
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A 92,000 m² building erected in nine months from prefabricated, interchangeable cast-iron and glass components. It demonstrated modular construction and exposed metal structure as architecture.
The first building with an iron frame was the Ditherington flax mill in Shrewsbury (1796, Charles Bage); the Crystal Palace was the culmination of the system.
What it led to
- Iron-and-glass stations, markets and greenhouses
- World's fairs as an industrial showcase
- Iron architecture (Eiffel) and the skyscraper
- Industrialised, prefabricated construction
Built on
- Puddling and rolling1784
- Hot blast1828
- Ditherington flax mill (1796), fireproof
- Coalbrookdale Iron Bridge (1779)
- Chatsworth greenhouses
Made possible
- Rolled iron I-beam1849
- Steel-frame skyscraper1885
- Glass curtain wall1911
- 30-storey prefabricated modular tower built in 15 days2011-2012
- Steel structure for skyscrapers
- Wide-span stations (St Pancras)
- Eiffel Tower