Glasshouses
By Fiona Grant
()
About this ebook
Read more from Fiona Grant
Brides of the Highlands
Related to Glasshouses
Titles in the series (100)
Church Misericords and Bench Ends Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Victorians and Edwardians at Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scalextric Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Victorians and Edwardians at Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5British Campaign Medals 1815-1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsButtons Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5British Campaign Medals 1914-2005 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The English Seaside in Victorian and Edwardian Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVW Camper and Microbus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5British Gallantry Awards 1855-2000 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5London Plaques Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Britain's Working Coast in Victorian and Edwardian Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLondon’s Statues and Monuments Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meccano Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAirfix Kits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5British Postcards of the First World War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mail Trains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuckles Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Medieval Monastery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peat and Peat Cutting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chocolate: The British Chocolate Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrchards Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerambulators Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuilding Toys: Bayko and other systems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Poole Pottery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Flying Scotsman: The Train, The Locomotive, The Legend Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLorries: 1890s to 1970s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tractors: 1880s to 1980s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe British Dentist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJaguar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Dreams of disconnection: From the autonomous house to self-sufficient territories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPublic Garden Management: a Global Perspective: Volume Ii Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAuthentic Japanese Gardens: Creating Japanese Design and Detail in the Western Garden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIce-Houses: Energy, Architecture, and Sustainability Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsModern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Walled Gardens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tudor Garden: 1485–1603 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Garden A Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreen Roofs, Facades, and Vegetative Systems: Safety Aspects in the Standards Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStourhead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreenhouse and Window Plants - A Primer for Amateurs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIcehouses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Country House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Straw Bale Building: How to Plan, Design and Build with Straw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild By Design: Strategies for Creating Life-Enhancing Landscapes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHardy Ornamental Trees and Shrubs - With Chapters on Conifers, Sea-side Planting and Trees for Towns Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTropical Living: Contemporary Dream Houses in the Philippines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Heal the Earth: Selected Writings of Ian L. McHarg Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow To Date Furniture: An Easy Reference Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orchids Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tree Culture and Management Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Olmsted Parks of Louisville: A Botanical Field Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConservation Design for Subdivisions: A Practical Guide To Creating Open Space Networks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cultivation of Mushrooms - An Outline of Mushroom Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrafting History: Archiving and the Quest for Architectural Legacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsColonial Homes and Their Furnishings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrees and Shrubs for English Gardens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Encyclopedia of Ornament Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Architecture For You
Become An Exceptional Designer: Effective Colour Selection For You And Your Client Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Fix Absolutely Anything: A Homeowner's Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Living Small Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Martha Stewart's Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life, Home & Routines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5House Beautiful: Colors for Your Home: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Paint Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArchitecture 101: From Frank Gehry to Ziggurats, an Essential Guide to Building Styles and Materials Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feng Shui Modern Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Down to Earth: Laid-back Interiors for Modern Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Giza Power Plant: Technologies of Ancient Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shinto the Kami Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making Midcentury Modern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Live Beautiful Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Bohemians: Cool & Collected Homes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse: How to Design and Build a Net-Zero Energy Greenhouse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Place to Call Home: Timeless Southern Charm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Solar Power Demystified: The Beginners Guide To Solar Power, Energy Independence And Lower Bills Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cozy White Cottage: 100 Ways to Love the Feeling of Being Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Building Natural Ponds: Create a Clean, Algae-free Pond without Pumps, Filters, or Chemicals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalist Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMove Your Stuff, Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect and Happiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Glasshouses
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Glasshouses - Fiona Grant
INTRODUCTION
THE RANGE OF EXOTIC PLANTS introduced by travellers and explorers from around the globe increased dramatically in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The desire to cultivate these wonderful rarities fired man’s imagination into inventing ingenious methods of growing them in northen Europe’s harsher climate. These early structures were often crude, designed merely to protect the tender exotics from frost, but over time more sophisticated structures were developed.
The introduction of oranges via Spain led to the development of the orangery, a substantial structure, initially ill-lit and thick-walled, which was not ideal for the cultivation of plants. Pineapples from South America presented a greater challenge; for them sunken pits called ‘pine stoves’ or ‘pineries’ were devised, which were heated with steaming manure or spent tanners’ bark.
The eighteenth century was a period of experimentation. Structures evolved by trial and error; successful designs were then published by the head gardeners or architects who had devised them. These designs were clearly illustrated with plans and furnished with descriptions of structures they had built for their aristocratic clients, so that they could be copied and built by the landowner’s own estate staff. Because of the cost of materials, particularly glass, and the intensive labour required to maintain them, these structures were limited to the wealthiest landowners.
During the Industrial Revolution new materials and technologies were introduced, which brought down the costs of both materials and manufacture, making glasshouses affordable to the emerging middle classes. Prices fell even more drastically when developments in glassmaking made possible larger, and cheaper, panes of glass, and in 1845 the tax on glass was abolished. From then onwards scores of manufacturers emerged, describing themselves as ‘horticultural builders’, to cater for this new market. A range of buildings was on offer, in both timber and iron, suitable for a variety of different crops: vineries, peach houses, tomato and fig houses. Ornamental plants were also provided for, in order to satisfy the craze for exotic blooms such as orchids arriving from South America, India and South Africa. Plants from temperate regions, such as grapes and peaches, were forced into early production, to provide out-of-season fruit throughout the year. Shade-loving ferns and sun-seeking chrysanthemums also had their own, specially designed houses.
These nineteenth and early twentieth century structures reflect the peak of Victorian ingenuity, a combination of clever design and innovative technology. They represent the care and consideration paid to the most humble and functional of objects, so typical of that century. This remarkable attention to detail, from ingenious ventilation mechanisms to decorative ironwork, combined to create a satisfying blend of function and beauty. The range of crops these structures nurtured throughout the season is a testimony not only to the ingenuity of the manufacturers who built them, but also to the skill of the gardeners who assiduously tended the plants, persuading them to grow and flourish far from their natural environment.
A painting by A. McArthur of the interior of the camellia house at Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, grade II*, built in 1823 by Jones & Clark.
The raised central section of the orangery at Margam Park, built by Anthony Keck between 1786 and 1790, ornamented with garlands and bucrania, or bulls’ skulls, carved in relief, topped with four urns.
THE ORANGERY
The orange garden is very fine, and leads into the greenhouse, at the end of which is a hall to eat in, and the conservatory some hundred feet long, adorned with maps.
John Evelyn’s Diary (10 September, 1677).
CITRUS FRUITS were cultivated by the Persians as long ago as the fifth century AD. They were prized not only for their scent and beauty, but also for their medicinal and culinary qualities. The bitter orange, Citrus aurantium bigaradia , and the lemon, Citrus limonium , both natives of south-eastern China and northern Burma, were the first citrus trees introduced to Europe. It is thought that the Arabs introduced the plants around the thirteenth century to the southern Mediterranean and Moorish Spain, hence the current name for the bitter orange, the Seville.
Citrus trees were being cultivated in Italy by the fifteenth century. The trees were usually grown in large pots to be displayed on terraces and steps, and were well suited to the architectural style of the Italian Renaissance. Although these species are hardier than the sweet orange, some protection was still needed in the winter months, except in the most southerly Mediterranean regions. At the end of the summer the trees would be brought into shelter of some kind, such as garden rooms or grottoes, or into open galleries under a terrace, which could then be enclosed with wooden shutters. There they remained until the spring, when they were once more brought outside to stand in the sun.
From the