The Conservatory Has a Strong Historical Foundation

The uses of many distinct architectural structures in today's society have great roots going far back in man's history. Once humankind emerged from the shelter of natural caves and began to contemplate the design and construction of artificial shelter, great variety has been delivered from the creative imagination. Although many of these artificial shelter structures were simple, made to ward off weather elements protecting its inhabitants, others had specific applications requiring unique design and construction.

What is a conservatory?

The actual word 'conservatory' has at its roots two Latin words meaning a 'place to store something'. Originally these structures were used to store food. The modern definition has grown into meaning a building or a room attached to another building where more than 75 percent of the roof area along with more than 50 percent of the walled area is constructed of some type of translucent material.

Furthermore, the modern version of this type of structure is typically an additional glazed living area in which its inhabitants sit to relax. The Romans were the first civilization that made great efforts to construct a room that let in a lot of light but kept out a lot cold. Romans used mica instead of the modern use of glass.

These structures became quite popular during the 17th century with upper segments of society such as the nobility and scientific community as well as with landowners who employed them as a protection for their plants. With exploration of the unknown world, exotic plants from everywhere were brought back to northern European climates, such as the United Kingdom, where structures such as these were employed in attempts to grow and maintain plans that otherwise could never survive in a cold climate.

Sea voyages throughout the world included among their ship's inhabitants many naturalists seeking to expand world botany knowledge by collecting and bringing home to grow and maintain plant life that had never been known. It is suggested from viewing records that the conservatory at the Oxford Botanic Garden was the first constructed in Britain. These structures became even more popular toward the end of the late 19th century. This popularity could be partly due to the fact that before 1845 there was a huge tax levy placed upon glass. The removal of this levy led to more popular use of glass in the late 19th century, specifically in the construction of a conservatory.

The Queen had one built!

Queen Victoria wrote in her diary that she had requested the building of one of these structures in 1842. The popularity of the Queen and what she did had great impact upon the general public which, in turn, made a desire to include a conservatory as part of everyday life.

Affordable construction:

Modern technology including housing design and construction allows for the affordability of these unique structures. The heavy, and expensive, use of wrought iron and glass has given way to modern artificial substances such as aluminium, polycarbonate and PVC lending to more universal employment of these structures housing indoor gardens. In fact, many would point to the affordable availability of conservatories as the most important gardening invention ever created!

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