London Sphinx Doormat

The Crystal Palace area was named after the magnificent glass structure which housed the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London’s Hyde Park, and was dismantled and moved to the highest point of London. An Upper Terrace and a Lower Terrace with flights of granite steps linked the Crystal Palace to the park. Six sphinxes, arranged in pairs are among the few remnants of the Great Exhibition which burned-down in a fire on the night of 30 November 1936. This is one of those remaining majestic Victorian sphinxes, looking out over the Kent countryside from the top of Crystal Palace Park. Angles and shadows captured in black and white by Nick Rumbelow.