At Kew Gardens you'll find Temperate House, as well as other glasshouses. Temperate House though is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world and it's definitely the most impressive. What do you think? x
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The Temperate House is a wonder as is the earlier Palm House at Kew. However not being mentioned is their builder and co-designer who worked closely with Decimus Burton the Irish iron-founder and engineer Richard Turner with who he also designed the glasshouse for the Winter Gardens in Regents Park. Turner used standardised components and prefabricated elements manufactured off-site for later assembly, together with curved glass in long lengths. Most of his components were manufactured at his works in Dublin. Turner’s use of wrought iron and curved glass was at the cutting end of technology and in particular influenced the design of train station sheds and similar structures such as the Natural History Museum in Oxford by the Dublin architects Woodward and Deane. Indeed Turner designed and constructed the railway sheds at Westland Row and at the Broadstone in Dublin, and Lime Street in Liverpool. When the Palm House was restored much of the cast iron was replaced with stainless steel and I hope the historic integrity of the Temperate House is more carefully conserved in this restoration.
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