Abstract“On the 26th September (1850) we were able to fix the first column in its place. From this time I took the general management of the building under my charge, and spent my time on the works–feeling that, unless the same person who made the drawings was always present to assign each part to its proper place in the structure, it would have been impossible to finish the building in time for the opening on the 1st of May.”Charles Fox, builder of the Crystal Palace, quoted by L. T. C. Rolt in “Victorian Engineering,” Penguin Books, 197