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Conservatory (greenhouse)
Encyclopedia
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Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
or a sunroom. Conservatories originated in the 16th century when wealthy landowners sought to cultivate citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges that began to appear on their dinner tables brought by traders from warmer regions of the Mediterranean.
Description
Many cities, especially those in cold climates and with large EuropeanEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
populations, have built municipal conservatories to display tropical plants and hold flower displays. This type of conservatory was popular in the early nineteenth century, and by the end of the century people were also giving them a social use (e.g., tea parties). Conservatory architecture varies from typical Victorian glasshouses to modern styles, such as geodesic domes. Many were large and impressive structures and are included in the list below.
In the UK the legal definition of a conservatory is a building that has at least 50% of its side wall area glazed and at least 75% of its roof glazed with translucent materials, either polycarbonate sheeting or glass. Today, the term sunroom, solarium and conservatory are used interchangeably by the public, but in general the term conservatory and particularly English conservatory evoke the image of an ornate structure, echoing the traditions of that Victorian era of conservatory building.
These beautiful structures have been designed and built around the world, in private gardens, parks, and botanical institutions. Smaller garden conservatories have become popular as places which are part-greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
s, for conserving plants, and part-recreational, as a solarium or sunroom. They are often used as an extra room rather than for horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
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Residential conservatories can be constructed of hardwoods such as Jatoba, Teak, Mahogany, Western Red Cedar and Sapele. Highly detailed and more expensive than sunrooms, which are mainly constructed from either aluminum or pvc, the true conservatory offers more detailing and design than a simple sunroom.
History
Preservation of citrus and other tender plants started out as crudely as building a pergola over potted plants or beds or simply moving potted plants indoors for the cold season. Known in Italy as limonaia, these early structures employed wood panels in storerooms or open galleries to protect from the cold.Further north in Europe, the preservation of orange trees became the trend with special purpose buildings built to protect the tasty, but delicate fruit. Orangeries, as they came to be called were typically enclosed structures built with wood, brick or stone with tall vertical windows on the south walls. Use of these rooms expanded socially and practically, being used to entertain and to host a wider variety of plants. The term greenhouse came to describe the rooms and conservatories for tender plants. In the 18th century a Dutch scientist pioneered the use of sloping glass to bring in more light for the plants than the tall glass side walls of orangeries.
The 19th century was the golden age of conservatory building, primarily in England. English conservatories were the product of English love of gardening and new technology in glass and heating technology. Many of the magnificent public conservatories, built of iron and glass, are the result of this era. Kew Gardens in London is an example of a large greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
used for growing tender and rare plants, or, less often, for birds and rare animals – sometimes with the plants and animals living together.
The widespread construction of UK conservatories came to a halt with the onset of World War II. While the advent of insulated glass in the 1950s and 1960s saw the development of simple sunroom structures, it was not until the 1970s that creative architects and builders began to recreate the Victorian styling of 19th century English conservatories in smaller domestic versions using insulated glass.
Canada
- Muttart ConservatoryMuttart ConservatoryThe Muttart Conservatory is a botanical garden located in the North Saskatchewan river valley, across from downtown Edmonton. The conservatory consists of four glass, pyramid-shaped structures that showcase plants from arid, tropical, and temperate climates, providing a welcome oasis of warmth...
(EdmontonEdmontonEdmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, AlbertaAlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
) - Bloedel Floral ConservatoryBloedel Floral ConservatoryThe Bloedel Floral Conservatory in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is a conservatory and aviary located at the top of Queen Elizabeth Park....
(VancouverVancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, B.C.British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
) - Allan GardensAllan GardensAllan Gardens is one of the oldest parks in Toronto, Canada. It has a conservatory , a playground and two fenced off-leash areas for dogs. It is operated by Toronto Parks who also run Centennial Park Conservatory...
(TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
) - Centennial Park ConservatoryCentennial Park ConservatoryCentennial Park Conservatory is a conservatory in Toronto, Canada. It consists of three greenhouses and of plants including a cactus house, a tropical house and a show house which features seasonal displays. It is located in Centennial Park, in the former City of Etobicoke. This conservatory is...
(TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
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China
- Beijing Botanical GardenBeijing Botanical GardenThe Beijing Botanical Garden is a botanical garden situated in the northwestern outskirts of Beijing, China between Xiangshan Park and Jade Spring Mountain in the Western Hills.-History:...
(BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
) - Shanghai Botanical Garden (ShanghaiShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
) - South China Botanical GardenSouth China Botanical GardenThe South China Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences is a large botanical garden in Guangzhou, Guangdong province in southern China.- History :...
(QingyangQingyangQingyang is a prefecture-level city in China's Gansu province.-Geography and climate:Qingyang is in eastern Gansu province and is sometimes referred to in Chinese as "Longdong" . Ningxia province is to the north west and Shaanxi is to the east. It is in the lower middle part of the Yellow River on...
, GuangzhouGuangzhouGuangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
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England
- Kew Gardens (southwest London)
- Chatsworth HouseChatsworth HouseChatsworth House is a stately home in North Derbyshire, England, northeast of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield . It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and has been home to his family, the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549.Standing on the east bank of the...
(Derbyshire) - Eden projectEden ProjectThe Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, including the world's largest greenhouse. Inside the artificial biomes are plants that are collected from all around the world....
(Cornwall) - Syon HouseSyon HouseSyon House, with its 200-acre park, is situated in west London, England. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is now his family's London residence...
(west London) - Barbican CentreBarbican CentreThe Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
(central London)
United States
- Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory (Detroit)
- Biosphere 2Biosphere 2Biosphere 2 is a structure originally built to be an artificial, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona by Space Biosphere Ventures, a joint venture whose principal officers were John P. Allen, inventor and Executive Director, and Margret Augustine, CEO...
(Oracle, ArizonaOracle, Arizona- Geology :Oracle and the surrounding area sit largely on a slab of granite called "Oracle granite" that is visible as red or grey-and-white speckled "boulders" rising over the scrub and grass. It is mostly porphyritic biotite Precambrian granite with large microcline phenocrysts, and has...
) - Bolz Conservatory (Madison, WisconsinMadison, WisconsinMadison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
) - Buffalo and Erie County Botanical GardensBuffalo and Erie County Botanical GardensThe Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens are botanical gardens located at 2655 South Park Avenue, Buffalo, New York, USA in South Park. These gardens are the product of landscaping architect Frederick Law Olmsted, glass-house architects Lord & Burnham, and botanist and plant-explorer John F...
(Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
) - Cecil B. Day Butterfly CenterCecil B. Day Butterfly CenterThe Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center is located at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. It is North America's largest, glass-enclosed tropical conservatory....
(Pine Mountain, Georgia) - ClimatronClimatronThe Climatron is a greenhouse enclosed in a geodesic dome that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Initiated by then Garden director Frits W. Went the dome is the world's first completely air-conditioned greenhouse and the first geodesic dome to be enclosed in rigid Plexiglass ...
(St. Louis) - Conservatory of FlowersConservatory of FlowersThe Conservatory of Flowers is a greenhouse and botanical garden that houses a collection of rare and exotic plants in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. With construction completed in 1878, it remains the oldest building in the park, and the oldest municipal wooden conservatory remaining...
(San Francisco) - Desert Garden ConservatoryDesert Garden ConservatoryThe Desert Garden Conservatory is a large botanical greenhouse and part of the The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California. It was constructed in 1985. The Desert Garden Conservatory is adjacent to the Huntington Desert Garden itself...
(San Marino, California) - Denver Botanic GardensDenver Botanic GardensThe Denver Botanic Gardens is a public botanical garden located in Denver, Colorado in the Cheesman Park neighborhood. The park contains a conservatory, a variety of theme gardens and a sunken amphitheater, which hosts various concerts in the summer...
(Denver, ColoradoDenver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
) - Des Moines Botanical CenterDes Moines Botanical CenterThe Des Moines Botanical Center is a botanical garden in central Iowa, located at 909 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines, Iowa, USA, on the east bank of the Des Moines River.Interest in a Des Moines botanical center began in 1929...
(Des Moines) - Enid Haupt Conservatory at New York Botanical GardenNew York Botanical Garden- See also :* Education in New York City* List of botanical gardens in the United States* List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City- External links :* official website** blog*...
(New York) - Foellinger-Freimann Botanical ConservatoryFoellinger-Freimann Botanical ConservatoryThe Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory is an enclosed conservatory in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. Opened in 1983, the conservatory contains a seasonal showcase garden, a tropical oasis display, with a waterfall, Sonoran Desert display, and outdoor terrace and exploration...
(Fort Wayne) - Fort Worth Botanic GardenFort Worth Botanic GardenThe Fort Worth Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located at 3220 Botanic Garden Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas. It is open daily; an admission fee is charged for the Conservatory and Japanese Garden...
(Fort Worth, Texas) - Franklin Park ConservatoryFranklin Park ConservatoryThe Franklin Park Conservatory is a botanical garden and conservatory located in Columbus, Ohio. It is open daily and an admission fee is charged. Originally built in 1895, the Conservatory is on the National Register of Historic Places...
(Columbus, Ohio) - Garfield Park ConservatoryGarfield Park ConservatoryGarfield Park is a site located in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. It was designed as a pleasure ground by William LeBaron Jenney and is the oldest of the three great original Chicago West Side parks .It is home to the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest and...
(Chicago) - Garfield Park Conservatory and Sunken GardensGarfield Park Conservatory and Sunken GardensGarfield Park is a regional city park in Indianapolis, Indiana. Established in the late 19th century, it is the oldest city park in Indianapolis and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is located at the confluence of Pleasant Run and Bean Creeks on the near Southside of...
(Indianapolis) - Lamberton Conservatory at Highland Park(Rochester, New York)
- Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of BaltimoreHoward Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of BaltimoreThe Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of Baltimore, often known as the Baltimore Conservatory, is a historic conservatory and botanical garden located in Druid Hill Park at 3100 Swann Drive, Baltimore, Maryland. The conservatory is open daily except Mondays.Designed by George A...
(Baltimore) - Krohn ConservatoryKrohn ConservatoryKrohn Conservatory is a conservatory located in Eden Park within Cincinnati, Ohio.The conservatory was completed in 1933, and named in honor of Irwin M. Krohn who served on the Board of Park Commissioners...
(Cincinnati) - Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden ConservatoryLewis Ginter Botanical GardenThe Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, , is a botanical garden located at 1800 Lakeside Avenue, on the North Side of Richmond, Virginia.- Mission :...
(Richmond, Virginia) - Lincoln Park ConservatoryLincoln Park ConservatoryThe Lincoln Park Conservatory is a conservatory and botanical garden in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The conservatory is situated at 2391 North Stockton Drive just south of Fullerton Avenue, west of Lake Shore Drive, and part of the Lincoln Park, Chicago community area. Positioned near the...
(Chicago) - Longwood GardensLongwood GardensLongwood Gardens consists of over 1,077 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, United States in the Brandywine Creek Valley...
(Kennett Square, Pennsylvania) - Marjorie McNeely Conservatory (St. Paul)
- Mitchell Park Conservatory (Milwaukee)
- Moody GardensMoody GardensMoody Gardens is a tourist complex in Galveston, Texas. It is owned, through a complex agreement, by the City of Galveston but funded, operated, and supported by the multi-billion dollar Moody Foundation....
(Galveston) - Myriad Botanical Gardens and Crystal Bridge ConservatoryMyriad Botanical GardensThe Myriad Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden located in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on the southwest corner of Reno and Robinson. The Gardens is home to multiple tiers of densely landscaped areas that surround a sunken lake...
(Oklahoma City) - Phipps Conservatory & Botanical GardensPhipps Conservatory & Botanical GardensPhipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a complex of buildings and grounds set in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
(Pittsburgh) - Steinhardt Conservatory (BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
) - United States Botanic GardenUnited States Botanic GardenThe United States Botanic Garden is a botanic garden on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., near Garfield Circle....
(Washington, D.C.) - Volunteer Park ConservatoryVolunteer Park ConservatoryThe Volunteer Park Conservatory is a botanical garden and conservatory located in Seattle, Washington, at the north end of Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill....
(Seattle, Washington) - W. W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory (Tacoma, Washington)