The newly restored Crystal Palace Subway has jointly won a prestigious Museums + Heritage Award for Restoration or Conservation Project of the Year.
The careful and sympathetic restoration of Crystal Palace Subway - one of the few remaining structures from the Victorian Crystal Palace complex - was led by Bromley Council and the Friends of Crystal Palace Subway, and guided by expert advice from Historic England. The restoration was completed last year and this unique building is now back in public use 160 years after it first opened, under the management of the park’s new custodian, Crystal Palace Park Trust.
Announced at a ceremony in central London yesterday (Thursday 15 May), the Crystal Palace Subway jointly won the award with The Landmark Trust’s Calverley Old Hall, while beating off stiff competition from HMS Victory (National Museum of the Royal Navy), and two National Trust projects - Beatrix Potter’s Dolls’ House (Hill Top) and the Long Gallery Ceiling Project at Lanhydrock.
The Museums + Heritage Awards are global awards regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of the heritage sector. The Restoration or Conservation Project of the Year category highlights the quality of work undertaken on restoration, repair and conservation projects within the UK, and is awarded by Museums + Heritage in partnership with ICON, the Institute of Conservation.
The Award’s judges called the Subway’s restoration “A bold, beautifully executed restoration, blending community energy with expert conservation to revive a lost historic space. Driven by local passion, it safeguards the past while creating a vibrant future for all.”
Councillor Yvonne Bear, Executive Councillor for Renewal, Recreation and Housing, said: “This is an incredible achievement for all involved and I sincerely thank our partners for helping ensure this special site was restored in a fashion in keeping with its rich history, that is entwined with the international prestige of the Crystal Palace itself. Residents can now enjoy this space under the careful watch of Crystal Palace Park Trust, as we press ahead with delivering the wider regeneration plan for the park, aiming to replicate the high standards we have set with the subway restoration.”
Jules Hussey, of the Friends of Crystal Palace Subway, said: “The community remains at the heart of the Subway: as volunteers, visitors and huge fans of this beautiful hidden site. This award recognises the collaboration with Bromley Council, the architects and all the craftspeople involved in this breathtaking restoration, and we are excited by what the future holds for the Subway in the hands of Crystal Palace Park Trust.”
Highlights of the £3.5m project - funded jointly from the City of London Strategic Investment Pot, more than £1m from Historic England, and significant local support and individual donations - include a new glass roof, reconstructed staircases and the reuse and sourcing of heritage materials to maintain the character of the building.
Techniques used in the restoration project included 3D digital technology combined with historical document research and onsite surveying to unearth obscured or lost heritage features. The Subway’s restoration was guided by expert advice provided from Historic England and conducted by conservation specialists DBR Limited and architect Thomas Ford & Partners.
In its first three months since reopening the Subway, run by Crystal Palace Park Trust, was visited by around 6,000 people, and hosted events from a craft market and pop-up cinema screenings to stand-up comedy and a silent disco.
Victoria Pinnington, Chief Executive of Crystal Palace Park Trust, said: “Huge thanks to the judges of the Museums + Heritage awards for recognising the efforts of our funders and so many in our community to resurrect the spectacular Crystal Palace Subway. We’ve seen people queuing in the rain to attend our Open Days, and have already hosted a range of events and experiences in the space as well as filming and venue hire bookings. We look forward to welcoming visitors to many more events at this special, award-winning place and encourage them to explore the rest of the iconic 200-acre, Grade II* listed Crystal Palace Park as we embark on the next phase of the park’s transformational regeneration plan.”
The Subway restoration is the first phase of the major regeneration of Crystal Palace Park, being delivered by Bromley Council and Crystal Palace Park Trust. The next phase, beginning on 19 May will see the restoration of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs and the historic Italian Terraces, alongside a host of other improvements to the park.
The next opportunities to see the Crystal Palace Subway are:
- Saturday 24 May, 10:00 to 11:00 - relaxed session, free, book ahead.
- Saturday 24 May, 11:00 to 14:00 - free, book ahead.
- Sunday 8 June, 10:00 to 12:00 - free, book ahead.
See crystalpalaceparktrust.org for more information and booking details.
Ends
For media enquiries please contact:
James George in Public Affairs, Bromley Council on 020 8313 4565 or email james.george@bromley.gov.uk
And
Crystal Palace Park Trust: press@crystalpalaceparktrust.org
Editors’ notes
About Crystal Palace Park Trust
Crystal Palace Park Trust is the community-led charity running the park under a 125-year lease from London Borough of Bromley. The Trust’s vision is for Crystal Palace Park - a 200-acre, Grade II* listed historic landscape with many unique buildings and attractions - to be an outstanding park for London, offering a high-quality visitor experience, while also re-telling and sharing its history and story for the nation. Our mission is to protect, manage and improve Crystal Palace Park as a green, open, historic, ecological, recreational, sporting, cultural and educational resource in the interests of the community and other park users. Follow @crystalpalaceparktrust on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
The ambitious regeneration of the park is being co-delivered by Bromley Council and the Crystal Palace Park Trust.