Crystal Palace, London the grounds of the Penge Place estate at Sydenham Hill. The buildings housed the Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and Literature and Crystal Palace School of Engineering. It attracted visitors for over seven decades. Sydenham Hill is one of the highest locations in London; 109 metres (357 ft) above sea level (spot height on Ordnance Survey Map); and the size of the Palace and prominence of the site made it easy to identify from much of London. This led to the residential area around the building becoming known as Crystal Palace instead of Sydenham Hill. The Palace was destroyed
Sir John Aird, 1st Baronet Aird & Co., in 1848. On his 18th birthday in 1851, Aird junior joined the family firm – which subsequently traded as "John Aird & Sons" for a while. The business had initially focused on gas and water network installations, but soon expanded into more general building work. John Aird's first significant scheme was the dismantling, transportation and re-erection of The Crystal Palace buildings from the 1851 Great Exhibition from central London's Hyde Park to Sydenham in south London. Other company projects included the construction of reservoirs and of railways and docks work. Aird became an associate of the Institution