Crystal Palace (1858 - 1879) Photograph with watercolour of pen and ink drawing by W. J. Thomson, 1895. 10.0 x 17.5 cm. TPL (TRL) JRR 552 This first permanent exhibition building, designed by Sanford Fleming and Collingwood Schreiber in 1858, was located immediately south of the Provincial Asylum. This building and others like it in the province mimicked the Crystal Palace built for the 1851 Exposition in London, England. Exhibitions were held in this building from 1859 to 1879. The public arrived by the horse streetcar that ran a distance of six miles from the St. Lawrence Hall to the Asylum, or they took the popular excursion boats from the Yonge Street wharf. The site was later used for factories and CPR yards.