The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace is a cast iron and plate glass structure located in North Fairview.

Constructed in 1893 the palace was built as a tribute to the Great Exhibition in London to display Fairview’s own industrial prowess that had been made in recent years with the rise of its own Industrial district and port. The Palace’s opening was attended by Fairview’s leading industrialists, the Mayor and Prime Minister of New Holland, Janos King. The original event was attended by the thousands and the palace became a unique tourist attraction into the late 1890s and the early 1900s, during this time a number of houses and buildings were constructed around the palace, with the area around the palace eventually becoming known as Crystal Palace to locals, with a train station being constructed in 1899.

During the First World War the Palace was closed to all visitors and in the latter stages of the war became a temporary hospital to veterans retuning from the war in Europe and Africa. Following the conclusion of the war the palace largely became redundant with its exhibitions becoming non existent and its tourism declining. The palace was sold in 1921 and briefly served as a storage facility until 1925 when the owners made their intentions clear that they wished to demolish the palace and sell the land to a property developer, this move sparked local outrage and eventually with outside funding the palace was bought by the flamboyant Cornelius ‘Batty’ Batt in 1926.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s Cornelius set about improving the palace, a fireworks display was started on Friday evenings which attracted many visitors from around New Holland. Cornelius also set about purchasing a number of tropical trees and foliage to put on display within the Palace Gardens and by the late 1930s the inside of the palace had been effectively transformed into a botanical garden, as well as library which served a corner of the palace and was popular among university students. During the Second World War the palace became a symbol of pride in New Holland with the Friday Evening fireworks display serving to boost morale in the early stages of the war. Bat received much praise from the people and council of Fairview for his work and was presented with an Order of New Holland from the Prime Minister.

Following the war the palace remained popular, with many Londoners travelling to see it following the destruction of the much larger London Crystal Palace in 1936. In 1949 the old library was demolished and the garden expanded. In 1954 a pool was established in the middle of the palace where people would through coins into the pool and makes wishes, this new tradition would eventually course scandal when the Bat family promised to give the coins to a local charity for the poor, however it was found they had been pocketing some of the money for themselves, Cornelius was taken to court but was acquitted, he did not deny the allegations claiming most of the money had been donated but 10% had been kept to keep the palace afloat.

During the 1960s the palace became a popular destination for Fairview’s youth with many camping outside the palace for days with many often having to be removed. In the 1966 the Bat family began renting the venue out for concerts with the Rolling Stones performing at the palace in 1967 and finally in one of its most famous moments the Beatles in 1968, in what was their first tour of New Holland, in which the largest amount of people attended the palace at once. In 1970 the Bat family declared their intention to sell, originally being bought by Fairview heritage, they were unable to get the same levels of success as before and agreed to sell the palace in 1974 to Fairview City Council.

Following its purchase by the council the palace was fully converted into a large botanical garden open to the public. As per many requests the Friday evening firework show was restarted in 1977 for the first time since 1956, however in 1979 during one of these shows a fire was started which began to spread to an old Oak in the palace, luckily the fire was put out before any fatal damage was caused. However a large amount had to be taken to fund repairs, this incident caused controversy as it came during the stagflation of the 70s and many felt the councils money should be spent elsewhere leaving the palace damaged.

By 1982 the council finally got round to repairing the closed section of the palace and by 1984 it had reopened to the public, during this time a large tv screen was displayed at the palace at weekends showing news and sport events from around the world. In 1989 thousands crowded around this screen to watch the Berlin Wall fall and the images of it became famous in New Holland. A proposal to expand the palace in 1992 by architect William Miller was backed by the council however was stopped by the Ministry of Planning who felt it would ruin the original palace. This move by the city council was largely due to them receiving donations from Miller’s company.

In recent years the palace has served as a popular attraction in Fairview, the tv screen was removed in 1999 and since then the place has largely served as a botanical garden, also hosting the local growing competition in the summer. The Palace remains one of the largest buildings in Fairview and it’s most popular.