Adding to the committee's woes, the site for the Exhibition was still not confirmed. ДЄs a last resort the committee came up with a standby design of its own, for a brick building in the rundbogenstil by Donaldson, featuring a sheet-iron dome designed by Tunnel, but it was widely criticized and ridiculed when it was published in the newspapers.

Turner was furious at the rejection, and reportedly badgered the commissioners for months afterwards, seeking compensation, but at an estimated ВЈ300,000, his design (like Horeau's) was too expensive. Two designs, both in iron and glass, were singled out for praise-one by Richard Turner, co-designer of the Palm House at Kew, and the other by French architect Hector Horeau but despite the great number of submissions, the committee rejected them all. Within three weeks, the committee had received some 245 entries, including 38 international submissions from Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hanover, Switzerland, Brunswick, Hamburg and France. By 15 March 1850 they were ready to invite submissions, which had to conform to several key specifications: the building had to be temporary, simple, as cheap as possible, and economical to build within the short time remaining before the Exhibition opening, which had already been scheduled for. An executive Building Committee was quickly formed to oversee the design and construction of the exhibition building, comprising accomplished engineers Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Robert Stephenson, renowned architects Charles Barry and Thomas Leverton Donaldson, the Duke of Buccleuch and the Earl of Ellesmere, and chaired by William Cubitt. The commission in charge of mounting the Great Exhibition was established in January 1850, and it was decided at the outset that the entire project would be funded by public subscription. The huge, modular, iron, wood and glass, structure was originally erected in Hyde Park in London to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, which showcased the products of many countries throughout the world. The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park for the Grand International Exhibition of 1851 The park still contains Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins's Crystal Palace Dinosaurs which date back to 1854. were founded at the site and played at the Cup Final venue in their early years.

This included the Crystal Palace Park that surrounds the site, home of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, which had previously been a football stadium that hosted the FA Cup Final between 18. The nearby residential area was renamed Crystal Palace after the landmark. It stood there from June 1854 until its destruction by fire in November 1936. It was rebuilt at the top of Penge Peak next to Sydenham Hill, an affluent suburb of large villas. ДЄfter the exhibition, the Palace was relocated to an area of South London known as Penge Place which had been excised from Penge Common.

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'. It astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights. 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. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564В m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39В m), and was three times the size of St Paul's Cathedral. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its 990,000 square feet (92,000В m 2) exhibition space to display examples of technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851.

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