Enjoying the Glasshouse Legacy
Greenhouses and conservatories are everywhere. First developed as a farming tool they were a symbol of wealth in the 17th century and have been seen to influence contemporary house design ever since – so where did these elegant usable conservatories originate?
The first ever greenhouse, or “glasshouse” to use its correct name, was built around 30AD for the Roman emperor “Tiberius” to satisfy his demand for out of season cucumbers! At this point glass had not actually been invented and so the spectrum was actually meticulously formed using tiny pieces of translucent sheets of mica.
The first greenhouse in its current form, however, with glass angled windows and a glass roof, was developed in 1500 by Jules Charles. He was a French botanist who constructed the glass outhouse so that he could grow tropical plants. It was initially built by Charles in Holland, where growing exotic fruits and plants was a symbol of extreme wealth.
Beeton’s dictionary of Industries and Commerce wrongly informs its audience that the first green house was actually erected by Soloman de Caus in 1619 in Heidelburg and used to cover 340 oranges which had been transported into the village – however records of the first glass sheeted houses date back far earlier. Oranges were, at this time, a new fruit and orangeries were developed to combat the frost. The orangeries were clumsy buildings, which had a removable roof, developed and used to keep the exotic fruit trees at the right temperature all year round.
Experimentation with glass walls went on during the 17th century as the glass house came into vogue throughout Europe. The glass houses varied in style to satisfy the aristocracy’s taste for decadence and better quality of glass meant these structures had a masterful presence in the period’s design style. An example of such opulence is the Palace of Versailles which was designed by Philibert Le Roy under the instruction of Louis XIII in 1624. Eight years later, in 1632, Louis XIII obtained the seigneury of Versailles from the Gondi family and began to make enlargements to the ch