Joseph Paxton

Happy Birthday Joseph Paxton!! Born in 1803 (his birth year is often misreported as 1801) in England, Paxton was an architectural engineer, but more commonly known as a landscape gardener. His interest in gardening began at a young age and he worked as a garden boy and met the Duke of Devonshire who offered him the position of head gardener at Chatsworth at age 20. These gardens were renowned as the finest gardens at that time. He developed the grounds with various projects including fountains, water lilies and especially an interest in glass houses. This led him to create his greatest work, The Crystal Palace, a project made possible by advances in the manufacture of glass and cast iron. It was originally erected in Hyde Park, London to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Later it was moved to Sydenham Hill in a well-to-do area of London, where it still stands today.