328 



THE' 1 "GARDENERS* MAGAZINE. 



May 



21 



» 



ft* 



The Syon Conservatory. J he b "j! d £ n s fo ™ s the nort hem boundary 0 f the geometric 



I Mt ojrun garden, which occupies a somewhat secluded position a T Wer 



CHIEF among the several features that have contributed to the well- from the northern side of the mansion and, as shown in Sutf,"" 



deserved fame of the gardens of Syon i Hous* the historic residence of ? ™ h*e^it cojsiste of ^cen^compartment and two 



Earl Percy, is the great conservatory, which has long been recognised as 

 one of the most handsome of the plant structures erected m private 

 gardens early in the century, and widely known for the highly interesting 

 character of many of 

 the plants that have 

 found a suitable home 

 within its walls. At 

 one time this magnifi- 



structure was 

 devoted to 



cent 

 largely 

 plants of great botani- 

 cal interest ; at ano- 

 ther a considerable 

 proportion of its avail- 

 able area was occu- 



splendidly 



given nerewun, u con*iMb ui a central compartment anH • dUon 

 nected by corridor-like structures describing a rather JwL Wln S s COn - 

 three hundred and eighty feet long and the crafre S ^ Itis# 

 about one hundred feet and a width of fifty frpf'^ V cn S* of 



* ct > ana th e cupola 

 or dome rises to a 

 height of sixty feet 

 The two wings are 

 each about sixty f ee t 



m length, forty feet in 

 width, and about forty 

 feet high, and the con' 



specimen 

 and orna- 



pied by 

 developed 

 flowering 



mental-leaved plants 

 that made their mark 

 at the public exhibi- 

 tions and added to the 

 lustre of the gardens. 

 Then at a later period 

 the specimens were 

 superseded by a more 

 varied collection of 

 plants, and the struc- 

 ture became remark- 

 able for the great 



beauty and interest of the displays annually produced in the sections devo- 

 ted to plants grown in pots. The structure has since its completion about 

 seventy years ago seen many changes in the character of the plants with 

 which it has been embellished, and now, as the result of shifting fashion 

 and a fuller appreciation of the uses of plant houses from a recrea- 

 tive point of view, it also has had to submit to a"considerable modifica- 

 tion in the arrangement of the interior, and [a brief reference to the 

 improvements that have been 

 effected can hardly fail to be ot 

 general interest. 



The gardens at Syon, as in the 

 case of the mansion, may be traced 

 back for several hundred years, 

 and it would appear that at the 

 commencement of the present cen- 

 tury they were considered to have 

 become somewhat out of date, and 

 to be in need of considerable alter- 

 ation. ^ However that may have 

 been, improvements on a very ex- 

 tensive scale were commenced at 

 Syon in 1825, and carried on dur- 

 ing the next two or three years. 

 The alterations and improvements 

 were carried out under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. Forrest, who was one 

 of the most successful garden 

 architects of his day, and was held 

 in high estimation by Mr. Loudon, 

 who, in the fifth volume of the 



Gardeners' Magazine says, in 



reference to his ability, "As a 

 garden architect we know of no 

 man to be 



necting portions of the 

 building are about 

 twenty feet wide and 

 twenty-five feet high. 

 As originally arranged 

 the conservatory was 

 divided into nine sec- 

 tions, and the corridor- 

 like parts of the build 

 ing were each divided 

 into three, and in ad- 

 dition were fitted with 

 high stages for the 

 accommodation of 

 plants in pots, and as 

 those in charge had, 

 in watering and giving 



The Conservatory at Syon. other attentions to the 



occupants, to pass 



along under the stages 



and mount them by small openings here and there at the back, a more 

 inconvenient arrangement could not well be conceived. The separation 

 of the structure into so many parts rendered it difficult to exercise any 

 considerable degree of taste in the disposition of the plants, and the open • 

 ing and shutting of the numerous doors detracted materially from the 



enjoyment of visitors. Moreover, there was but one pathway through 

 the portions connecting the wings with the main body, and as that was 



hardly wide enough for two per- 

 sons to pass, considerable incon- 

 venience was experienced, more 

 especially on the occasion of 

 garden parties, when there are 

 between two and three thousand 

 visitors in the grounds. 



To obviate this inconvenience, 

 and render the structure more 

 thoroughly enjoyable, Earl Percy 

 decided to have the whole of the 

 glass divisions removed, and the 

 staging abolished, and to have 

 in the narrow sections a series of 

 oblong beds along the centre, 

 with broad paths on either side. 

 These alterations, with others that 

 were rendered necessary in giv- 

 ng effect to the wishes of the 

 noble owner, have been m pro- 



Forrest. 



compared with Mr. 



Among many examples 

 in different parts of the country, 

 we may refer, as a standing proof 

 of his ability in that department 

 of his profession, to the admirable 

 range of forcing houses and 

 pineries erected in the kitchen 

 garden at Syon." The alterations 

 included the rearrangement of the 

 kitchen garden, and the erection 

 of the long ranges of fruit and 

 plant houses, from which at the 

 present day Mr. Wythes annually 

 obtains such enormous supplies 

 of grapes, peaches, figs, melons, 

 strawberries, forced vegetables, ancf 

 cut flowers. The erection of the 

 conservatory followed shortly after 

 the completion of the forcing and 

 fruit houses, and in 0* preparation 

 ot the plans of this structure Mr 

 Forrest had the assistance of Mr 

 Fowler, an architect of high stand - 



gress during the past two years 

 and now they are complete 1 

 can rapidly be seen how great 

 is the improvement that M* 

 been effected. One of the mort 

 important of the mprovem^ 

 that have been made has bee, 

 the rearrangement of the JtffMf 

 apparatus. Originally the struc 



far 



was 



East Wing, Syon Conservatory. 



b? accord we'wuE' E? 2 ' S P ^ bable that il was designed by Mr. Fowler 



y^^Z» ^ J \u g T^ and sectional p ,an * p fe P ared b y Mr - 



meed'of ^^f>J&**2» J* of the highest 



arrangement was not emiil n n y des, 8 ned > convenience of internal 

 t, i not equal to the ornamental character of the exterior. 



vel ot tne « — ,, timfii 

 „ great loss of heat at aH ttg 

 and some difficulty J-JjJ 

 ing the requisite tempera to 

 severe weather. The p .pel 

 all been taken up and fixed 

 the level of the floor m 



with the more c 

 views that nowobta.n wiffi reg£ 

 ; ( ; e the distribution , rfbe*. ^ 



as a matter of the* 

 b een taken to so arrang 

 ♦w thev are in no »ay 



ance 



sive. 



under the new scheme in the centre alone is a t ^ conS i 

 to the requirements of tropical vegetation mainta '" d ' and thii 

 part of the roof has been taken off and rene be rea dilyu*ie 

 has been a work of considerable magnitude, as win 



adapwf 



iderabk 



rstoo* 



