Palm House, Kew
The great glasshouse of glass and wrought iron in Kew Gardens, shaped like an upturned hull.
The Palm House was built to grow tropical palms in the British climate. The architect Decimus Burton and the ironbuilder Richard Turner gave the building a light structure of wrought iron and glass, without load-bearing walls.
The building was one of the first great glasshouses of iron and glass and a forerunner of later glass palaces. It is part of the World Heritage site Kew Gardens.
Materials: Wrought iron and glass
Manufacture: Built 1844–1848 in Kew Gardens, London.
The curved ribs of wrought iron.
The glass in pale green tones.
The tall central nave for large palms.