London, Brighton and South Coast Railway closely involved with the company that purchased The Crystal Palace after the completion of The Great Exhibition in October 1851 and arranged for its removal to a site on Sydenham Hill, close to the London to Brighton main line, where it became a major tourist attraction. The LB&SCR therefore encouraged the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway to build a branch line from Sydenham, opened in June 1854. This was extended in a wide arc round south London to Wandsworth in 1856 and Battersea Pier in 1858. Shortly after the line was completed, the LB&SCR leased it and
Crystal Palace School Crystal Palace School Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and Literature, which opened in 1854, was set up by the Crystal Palace Company as a new enterprise to occupy part of its buildings when it re-erected the Crystal Palace in suburban Sydenham in 1853. Civil engineer and later first director of the Royal College of Music, George Grove was appointed secretary. It was a part of the great movements for educational and social reform of the nineteenth century. The main buildings were destroyed by fire in 1936. The overwhelming majority of classes were for women: Classes for gentlemen were limited