Crystal Palace, London Hill, Penge, South Norwood, Sydenham and Upper Norwood. The district was a natural oak forest until development began in the 19th century, and before the arrival of the Crystal Palace, it was known as Sydenham Hill. The Norwood Ridge and an historic oak tree were used to mark parish boundaries. The area is represented by three parliamentary constituencies, four London Assembly constituencies and fourteen local councillors. After the Crystal Palace burned down in 1936, the site of the building and its grounds became Crystal Palace Park, the location of the National Sports Centre which contains an athletics track, stadium and
Crystal Palace, London sex education and contraception, was raised in a house on Cintra Park shortly after her birth in Edinburgh, in 1880. Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, artist and sculptor who created the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs in the park, lived in Belvedere Road between 1856 and 1872. Jim Bob, Carter USM frontman, currently lives in Crystal Palace. The African-American Shakespearian Actor Ira Aldridge lived in the Crystal Palace area. The French novelist Émile Zola lived in what is now the Queen's Hotel on Church Road between October 1898 and June 1899. Zola fled to England after being convicted of criminal libel in France on