Conservatories
I read some research that showed that the market for conservatories in the US was growing, not just from domestic production but also from imports from Europe.
But many people do not understand what conservatories are. Talk to them about conservatories and they think about conservatories of music and other academic connections of the word. This use of the word is derived from the Italian conservatorio and I understand originally denoted an orphanage usually attached to a hospital. The foundlings (conservati) were given musical instruction at state expense.
Santa Maria di Loreto was the first of the music conservatories and opened in Naples in 1537 but it took until 1865 for the Oberlin Conservatory of Music to open in the US.
The other use of the word conservatories is derived from the Italian conservato (stored or preserved) and Latin ory (a place for). This was originally used to describe a non-glazed structure used for storing food.
Some people might call the development of this a greenhouse, but there have been distinct uses of the word over the past 350 years. John Evelyn one of the early writers on conservatory gardening and landscaping wrote about the design of a conservatory in his Elysium Britannicum that he began writing as long ago as 1650.
Today conservatories are now understood to be structures connected to houses and are descendents of the earliest diy conservatories that were mainly stone structures, heavily insulated with thick walls and with limited glazing. These were important in Northern European climates where gardeners and botanists were trying to raise plants originating from the Far East and some parts of the US in conservatories and orangeries.
From around the middle of the 18th century conservatory design began to change due to the advances in glass manufacturing and steel production. In a few years the maximum size of panes of glass increased from about eight square inches into panes three and four feet long. Stronger steel allowed improved tension in the supports of the panes of glass and this allowed large-span roofs to be built for conservatories. These steel supports could also be made thinner than before and thus allow more natural light to flood into the area covered.
It was the building of the Crystal Palace for London’s Great Exhibition of 1851 that really got the British public excited about the use of glass and steel in buildings. This helped inspire the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 held in Fairmount Park Philadelphia to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
One of the buildings erected for the Centennial Exhibition was Horticultural Hall; this had an iron and glass frame on a brick and marble foundation and was designed as a tribute to Crystal Palace. While the other buildings were demolished after the Centennial Exhibition, Horticultural Hall remained in use until damaged in 1954 by Hurricane Hazel, one of the worst hurricanes of the 20th century, after which it was demolished.
By the turn of the century design was becoming less cluttered both in the US and in Europe. In England thus was typified by the brief era of Edwardian architecture following the long reign of Queen Victoria. An Edwardian Conservatory of this period includes elements of the Victorian and Arts & Crafts style but with greater simplicity and the use of lighter colors.
In the UK some areas of historic buildings fall within what are called Conservation Areas. The first of these were created in 1967 and in England there are over 8,000 of them. Properties that fall within them cannot be restored or extended without reference to the local council that specified the conservation area. Home owners need to apply for conservatory planning permission and to get this they will need to produce plans for their work which show that the restoration or extension is in keeping with the period in which their property was originally built.
When a conservatory design is being considered it will almost certainly need to be constructed in a traditional style to match the design, brickwork, window treatment and paint finish of the property.
Architects can find that these restrictions stifle their creativity, modern practices would on the whole prefer to work using state of art materials and design an all glass conservatory. These present the architect with a number of challenges that need to be overcome. One of the first issues is the weight of large double glazed units and how these will be supported in roof structures. Then there is the problem of sealing adjacent glazed units against the weather and particularly rain and snow. In some parts of the country the possible weight of snow on a conservatory roof will need to be taken into consideration.
What’s more, if the conservatory is south facing and receives a lot of direct sunlight, providing adequate shading and ventilation are issues that the architect needs to find elegant solutions too so that their overall design is not compromised. The architect will be expected to give his client much conservatory advice on these matters.
In many circumstances it is easier to design a traditional conservatory based on a century or more of documented experience but using modern materials.
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