368 



PLANT-HOUSES. 



no means perfect, nor sufficient. The roof 

 is of iron, with metallic supports, but the 

 side windows are of wood — the panes of 

 glass in them being 14 inches by 10. The 

 larger plants are in tubs and large boxes 

 set on the pavement floor ; the smaller 

 ones are set on stages along the sides — 

 the front one having an evaporating 

 trough a, 18 inches wide, along the side 

 next the glass, and immediately above the 

 hot-water pipes, for the purpose of keep- 

 ing up a humid atmosphere. The heat- 

 ing is by Perkins's coil-pipe boiler, of 

 which there are two. The command of 

 heat is found to be sufficient. The co- 

 lumns between the front and end sashes, 

 as will be seen by the elevation, as well 

 as the base and entablature, are of stone. 

 This house, to be complete, should have 

 the solid back wall removed, and glass 

 substituted, similar to the front and 

 ends. 



In connection with this house, it may 

 not be uninteresting to state that three 

 conservatories exactly alike were erected 

 in the grounds at Buckingham Palace, 

 from designs by the late Sir Jeffrey Wy- 

 attville, of which this is one — it having 

 been removed to Kew by William IV. 

 The second was converted into a royal 

 chapel ; and the third still remains in 

 the private grounds attached to Her 

 Majesty's town residence. 



The detached conservatory at Sion 

 House, shown on Plate XVI., is elegant in 

 design, and of superior workmanship. It 

 has, however, the fault of being too nar- 

 row for its length and height, and also of 

 having the back walls of masonry instead 

 of glass. This splendid structure is in 

 the Italian style, and was designed by 

 Mr Charles Fowler, an architect of great 

 taste. It is surrounded in front and at 

 the ends by a chaste architectural terrace, 

 and connected at the centre and ends by 

 spacious flights of steps, with an architec- 

 tural flower-garden, better designed than 

 originally planted. The ground-plan 

 will show the arrangement, which consists 

 of a parallelogram centre, the dome of 

 which is 60 feet high, and glass on all 

 sides, adapted to the culture of stove-trees 

 and large plants. The two wings form 

 each a crescent, terminating in two paral- 

 lelograms chiefly used for greenhouse 

 plants, oranges, &c. The front elevation 

 consists of stone piers and cast-iron lights : 



the whole of the roof is composed of the 

 same material, and partly glazed with 

 plate glass. The whole is heated by two 

 steam-boilers placed in a building at a 

 considerable distance, and well shut out 

 of sight. Ventilation we have always 

 considered as imperfectly effected in this 

 range, and to this may be attributed in a 

 great degree that want of success which, 

 for years after its erection, was found to 

 exist — a result which was experienced in 

 the cultivation of many plants, not only 

 in this conservatory, but also in others 

 constructed upon similar principles. The 

 crescent wings connecting the centre with 

 the terminating divisions are much too 

 narrow, which, with the opaque back 

 wall, gives them the appearance of ordi- 

 nary greenhouses. 



The Royal Botanical Society of Lon- 

 don's conservatory in the Regent's Park, 

 of which only one-fourth of the original 

 design has as yet been finished, is a struc- 

 ture very much to our mind, the more 

 especially as it is not carried to too great 

 a height. That portion of it which is 

 finished is 175 feet in length and 75 feet 

 in breadth. "It consists of a series of 

 curvilinear span-roofs, the centre one be- 

 ing 40 feet in height and 50 feet in width, 

 and the two others on each side of it be- 

 ing about 25 feet in height and the same 

 in width. They are supported on rows 

 of iron pillars, which are tubular, for the 

 purpose of conducting rain water from 

 the roof to the cisterns, to be made avail- 

 able for watering the plants. The centre 

 span has a semicircular end standing out 

 about 25 feet from the front line of the 

 building, forming the principal entrance, 

 in which the broad walk leading from the 

 south gate terminates. A span-roof of 

 the same height and width as the others 

 (25 feet) starts from each side of the 

 principal or centre arch, and, extending 

 along the front at right angles to the 

 other roofs, presents a fine-looking front- 

 age resting on a perpendicular elevation 

 of about 10 feet — thus improving its gene- 

 ral appearance, which would otherwise be 

 of a zigzag form. At each end of the 

 building a curve, starting from the spring 

 of the upper one, comes down near the 

 ground, forming, as it were, a lean-to cur- 

 vilinear house of about 12 feet in width, 

 but having no partition to divide it from 

 the rest of the house. In regard to heat- 



