Download or read book Crystal Palace written by John McKean and published by Phaidon Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume covers one of the most influential buildings of the 19th century. Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace was the first public building to omit references to the past. Amid the historicist debates and battle of the styles of mid-19th-century Britain, Paxton's design was rational and straightforward.