Cast-iron column from the Crystal Palace

An excavated and re-erected cast-iron column from the 1851 Great Exhibition building.

DESCRIPTION: the cast-iron column stands on a terrace just to the north of the base of the southern water tower of 1854-1856 and is one of 3,300 such columns within the original Great Exhibition Building. It a base column, above which would have been a second column attached by a connecting-piece. The column is circular in plan, with four flat surfaces giving it an octagonal appearance. It is 5.8m in height with a hollow centre which served as a drainpipe. At the base is the separately-cast base-plate connected by four bolts and at the top is a fragment of the connecting-piece, also attached by four bolts. The column has been re-painted in alternating pale-blue and yellow.