The Prince of Wales at Montreal - The Crystal Palace, opened by His Royal Highness, August 25, 1860. Exhibition hall designed by John William Hopkins, built for the Montreal Industrial Exhibition of 1860. Inspired by the Crystal Palace in London, its main facades were of iron and glass. It had a tinned barrel-vaulted nave and two galleries. In this building was held the Provincial Exhibition, which his Royal Highness opened in person on the 25th August. The palace and the opening ceremony are thus described by the Times correspondent: "The exterior of the building is not particularly striking, but inside its great length, breadth, and height are imposing. Two broad galleries, one above the other, run round the vast hall (there are no transepts at present), and these were, of course, well filled with the fair ones of Montreal, as was also the spacious floor.... From "Illustrated London News", 1860.