Named after the Crystal Palace, the huge glass building of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Its name may come from the playwright Douglas Jerrold, who in July 1850 wrote in Punch of a 'palace of very crystal'. After the exhibition it was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill and reopened on 10 June 1854, the day this station opened. The surrounding area was renamed after it. Fire destroyed it in November 1936.