The Crystal Palace's £1.3M rebuild in 1854 left a debt never repaid before the 1936 fire

The Crystal Palace was built for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851 and was a triumph, hosting over six million visitors and returning a surplus that helped found London's great museums. As a temporary event it more than paid for itself.

Then a consortium of businessmen decided to make it permanent. The building was moved to Sydenham in south London at a cost of £1.3 million, and the reconstruction burdened its company with a debt it never repaid.

The permanent palace never worked as a business. Admission revenue was depressed because it was closed on Sundays, when most workers had their only day off, and the debt and maintenance costs dragged it down until bankruptcy was declared in 1911.

The Earl of Plymouth bought it for £230,000, and a trust restored it enough to turn a small profit. But on the night of 30 November 1936 a fire destroyed the building, which was not adequately insured to cover the roughly £2 million or more needed to rebuild it.