Paxton, Sir Joseph (1801-1865), was a British architect and landscape gardener. He designed the famous Crystal Palace to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, in Hyde Park, London. The Crystal Palace was a pioneering example of modular construction and enclosed 18 acres (7.3 hectares). This building was later taken down and re-erected at Sydenham, in south London. It was eventually destroyed by fire in 1936.
Paxton was born on Aug. 3, 1803, in Milton Bryant, Bedfordshire, England. In 1826, he became head gardener at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, converting the neglected grounds into perhaps the most famous and influential garden in the country. At Chatsworth, he developed important construction techniques for greenhouses. Paxton was knighted in 1852. He died on June 9, 1865.
See also Crystal Palace.
