Victorian Voyage, Part I - Sydenham's Ghosts

The Victorian Era was a chaotic period in which ideas and ideologies bounced off one another, with diverse and surprising results. Nowhere is this more clear than in architecture, where clashes over the meaning of the past and a present of incredible new technologies led to a style that had unexpected impacts on the future of design. This holiday season we'll be journeying through London, Great Britain, and the world to explore the gloriously weird union of art and science that is Victorian architecture. We begin with the most spectacular building of the age, the Crystal Palace. The building itself is long gone, leaving only a few relics, but these remnants tell us a lot about life in Industrial Britain, and you can see them all for yourself in a park in south London.