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14 unusual facts about Joseph Paxton


Alfred Paxton Backhouse

His middle name, Paxton, was selected to honour the creator of The Great Exhibition's Crystal PalaceJoseph Paxton – as it was on show during the year of his birth.

Burton Closes

It was originally built as a modest two bedroomed house, to a design by architect Joseph Paxton with interiors by Augustus Pugin and intended as a summer retreat.

Cast-iron architecture

Designed by Joseph Paxton, the glass and cast iron structure was much imitated around the world.

Collinsia multicolor

This plant was first described by the English architect Joseph Paxton in association with John Lindley.

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland

This surreal effect is made possible by a ridge and furrow roof system, a refinement of that first invented by the architect Joseph Paxton for his Crystal Palace in 1852.

James Mayer de Rothschild

In 1854 James de Rothschild commissioned the famous architect Joseph Paxton to build the Château de Ferrières in Ferrières-en-Brie, some 35 km east of Paris.

Liverpool Marathon

The course begins on the Western side of the River Mersey in the Joseph Paxton-designed Birkenhead Park, the course heads north to New Brighton, a former seaside resort before returning to Birkenhead and heading through Queensway Tunnel linking Birkenhead to Liverpool.

Queen's Park, Glasgow

The park was acquired in 1857 and was designed by the world renowned Sir Joseph Paxton, also responsible for noted public parks in London, Liverpool, Birkenhead and the grounds of the Spa Buildings at Scarborough.

Roof

The stone arch or vault, with or without ribs, dominated the roof structures of major architectural works for about 2,000 years, only giving way to iron beams with the Industrial Revolution and the designing of such buildings as Paxton's Crystal Palace, completed 1851.

Rowsley railway station

The original station building, which had been designed by Joseph Paxton, was used as a goods office until closure in 1967.

The Gardeners' Chronicle

Founded in 1841 by the horticulturists Joseph Paxton, Charles Wentworth Dilke, John Lindley and William Bradbury it originally took the form of a traditional newspaper, with both national and foreign news, but also with vast amounts of material sent in by gardeners and scientists, covering every conceivable aspect of gardening.

Treborth Botanic Garden

The grounds were designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, and features of his design can be see today, such as the lime avenue.

Upton, Slough

Laid out in 1842, the grounds (a public park as Herschel Park since 1949) are believed to have been designed by Joseph Paxton.

William Waud

William Waud, trained as an architect in England, was an assistant to Sir Joseph Paxton and worked on the design of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition in 1851.


Plas y Brenin

Other well-known people who visited included Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond on 6 September 1807 (there is a plaque commemorating his visit), Sir Joseph Paxton (1856) (designer of The Crystal Palace), Bishop Samuel Wilberforce (1858), Lord Byron (1913) and Sir Walter Scott (1818).