Sphinx at Crystal Palace. Men working on a cast of an Egyptian sphinx at the South Transept of Crystal Palace. This photograph was taken during the reconstruction and enlargement of Crystal Palace at Sydenham in south London. Crystal Palace, a large exhibition hall constructed from plate glass and cast iron, had originally been built in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The reconstructed building was destroyed by fire in 1936. This photograph, part of a series by Philip Henry Delamotte, is from 'Photographic Views of the Progress of the Crystal Palace, Sydenham' (1855).