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    Glasshouses
    Glasshouses
    Glasshouses
    Ebook117 pages55 minutes

    Glasshouses

    By Fiona Grant

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Since the early seventeenth century, when the cultivation of exotic plants and fruit became fashionable in northern Europe, glasshouses have offered an artificial climate in which they could flourish. At first these structures were within reach only of the very richest, and growing one's own oranges, orchids, pineapples or bananas was a sign of great wealth; but by the mid-nineteenth century manufacturers emerged to cater for a growing middle-class market. Glasshouses became increasingly sophisticated, with different types tailored to house specific crops, and manufacturers competing with one another by developing their own house styles, leading to a wealth of designs endlessly fascinating to the garden or architectural historian. In Glasshouses, Fiona Grant provides an illustrated introduction to the subject, including the twentieth century decline and recent attempts at restoration.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJul 10, 2013
    ISBN9780747813934
    Glasshouses

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      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.

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