Subway, Vestibule, Terrace and Stairs to the Crystal Palace

This pedestrian subway, vestibule, terrace, and staircase complex was built in 1865 and designed by Charles Barry Junior, serving as a vital link between the Crystal Palace High Level railway station (now demolished) and the Crystal Palace itself. The subway facilitated passenger movement between the station, situated in a cutting north-west of Crystal Palace Parade, and the palace to the south-east.

The structure's primary materials are red and cream brick with paved floors of alternating stone and stone steps. The north-west elevation is the only external face of the subway, constructed in cream brick with a parapet along the road above. It features four wide segmental-arched openings edged with red brick. A terrace on this side is paved with stone slabs laid in a diamond pattern, incorporating star formations on either side, although some repair and replacement has been carried out using concrete.

The interior of the subway is characterized by three parallel rows of five octagonal cream brick columns, supported by half-octagonal responds against oblong piers at the ends and along the walls. Moulded stone capitals and ovolo stone mouldings define the brick bases. Circular fan vaults rise from each column, constructed from red and cream brick arranged in diamond patterns. Ovolo-moulded stone defines the vaults, separated by circular roundels featuring polychromatic diapering, with a central cast-iron gas light fitting positioned above. The side walls are cream brick between the piers, bordered with red brick. An L-shaped porcelain channel in the floor at the northern corner is a remnant of its later use as an air raid shelter.

The glass-roofed vestibule (roof now absent) connects to four staircases: two for entering the central transept of the palace, two for departures, and one providing access to Crystal Palace Parade. The vestibule’s retaining walls have stairs ascending to ground level. The side walls feature three segmental arches lined in red brick; the two northernmost are blind, while the southernmost opens into buff-brick-lined tunnels with ascending stairs. The south-east side mirrors the subway’s entrance with four arches: two are blind, and the central two are open, accessed by a short flight of steps leading to a quarter-turn staircase rising to ground level. A wall separates the entrance and departure flights. Traces of the two shallow roof pitches remain on the north-west and south-east walls.