On the night of Nov. 30, 1936, just after the clock struck 8 p.m., a Londoner made a harrowing discovery—the Crystal Palace, the colossal building constructed of glass and iron that sat atop Sydenham Hill to the south of the city, was on fire. It didn’t take long for the small flame to blaze out of control, spreading to engulf large parts of the building in a conflagration that was visible for miles around.

“Within three hours after the outbreak the celebrated show place, known to millions in three generations, lay a smoldering, charred ruin,” read the front-page story in The New York Times the following morning.

If you were a visitor to London at the turn of the 20th century, the Crystal Palace would have been at the top of your tourist bucket list as one of the city’s iconic landmarks that held the same prestige as the Tower of London or Buckingham Palace still hold to this day.