Orangery Origins and Today

The Orangery at Longleat

      
The other day I went for an initial site visit to a new assignment; to uncover the history of a fine country house in the West Country.  It was at least eighteenth century but with a substantial Victorian addition on the front. 

The owners had recently had what I will call in general terms a glazed room attached to the rear elevation. It was a stylish construction; a combination of timber, brick and glass in a square formation and a hipped partially-glazed roof.  Given the low-ceilings and dark rooms of the rear of the eighteenth century part of the building it was much a much-needed and appropriate addition to the whole house. However, I was struck by the fact that it was referred to it as an “Orangery”. The designation of rooms and their names can change over time and this has certainly happened with this part of a house. 

These days a glazed construction on a house could be an Orangery, a Conservatory, a Garden Room or a Sun Room. Having said that, I suppose an Orangery can be one purely through its use. If you grow oranges and other similar citrus fruit, then wherever they are growing is an orangery and the style of housing is irrelevant. However, speaking architecturally and historically, we can be a little more specific.

Orangery origins can be found in France and Italy and they have been in England since the sixteenth century. However, it was the social and cultural influence of the Dutch during the reign of William III that brought this piece of garden history to wider popularity, albeit among the high strata of society. 

Royalty and the nobility at this time would have an Orangery constructed in the grounds of their country houses to grow precious tropical fruit coming from lands around the globe. These new fruits needed warmth to thrive and the buildings were constructed to provide the required environment. The most popular fruit was the orange and so, simply, this fruit gave the name. Fine examples of Orangeries are at Kenwood House in North London, Sir William's Chamber's Orangery at The Botanical Gardens at Kew and Vanbrugh's 1704 design at Kensington Palace. All these are open to the public.

The Crystal Palace

Early glass making technology meant producing large quantities of glass was difficult and expensive and not easy to use in construction to any great extent. Orangeries therefore tended to have stone-built parapet walls but with large vertical sliding sash windows to control temperature. They would also have a glass roof on timber rafters. In addition, orangeries were usually separate from the main house. So in reality a genuine orangery tends to be pre-nineteenth century, of this particular style and very much detached.

In the mid-nineteenth century, glass houses that were attached to the side of a house, and where plants of all kinds were cultivated, became popular, beyond the social boundaries of the aristocracy and landed classes. This popularity occurred thanks to the abolition of glass tax in 1845 and also improvements in technology that led to the production of sheet glass and larger-scale cast iron manufacture. Paxton's Crystal Palace, constructed for the 1851 Great Exhibition was a major influence on its popularity.

So what makes an Orangery today? It is probably the proportion of glass to other building materials and the partially glazed hipped roof and its more square form or maybe it is just a matter of taste...

A Modern Orangery ©Vale Garden Houses Ltd

Of Hearth and Home

Penshurst Place with Central Hearth

I have been thinking about which features of domestic buildings, certainly in England, have had the most impact, not simply on architecture but also on changing society and people’s lives. There are a few candidates; glass in windows, brick replacing timber-framing and cavity-wall insulation to name but three. But I think the prize has to go to the humble fireplace and chimney stack.

I have just completed the history of a timber-framed house in the Weald of Kent. Its origins date back to the late 14th century. It isn’t the oldest building I’ve researched, but very nearly! Despite 700 years of change and alteration, the early days of the building can be most clearly seen in its roof and specifically the blackened king post (now no longer in a supporting role). Despite the house’s three floors and collection of several small rooms within its walls today, this building was once one open hall.

Before fireplaces were introduced into domestic buildings, all living, eating and sleeping took place in the one space. Every person and domestic animal of the household lived around the central hearth. Maybe a mezzanine-type platform, known as a Solar, would have existed at one end of the room on which the master and mistress of the house slept, but everything else was communal on the ground floor and the space open to the roof. This explains the blackening of the 14th century timbers in the Wealden house. The smoke from the fire eventually escaped in various ways, through a hole in the roof or through the joints of unplastered tiles, under the eaves or through an open door or window.

An Early Hooded Fireplace

To find the origin of present day fireplaces we have to go back to Norman times, the 11th and 12th centuries. Their castles and other official strongholds tended to be of two or more storeys so having a fire in the central position was not practical. As a result they would put the fire in a shallow recess under an arch in the side wall of the chamber. The back of the recess sloped upwards and finished with a hole for the smoke to escape through the outside wall. Often there wasn’t a recess for the fire itself but a hood was constructed over the hearth. 

Returning to the 14th century Wealden house; despite the presence of a large and imposing stone fireplace on the ground floor and a substantial brick construction on the first floor dating to the 16th century, the stack and hearth are relative newcomers in the story of this house. In the 16th century this was a yeoman’s house, a farmer’s house. So not a place for nobility, but not for peasants either. It was the quintessential rural middle-class home. 

16th Century 1st Floor Brick Wealden Fireplace 

The chimney was built on what was the eastern exterior wall and of all the changes in the long life of this house, the introduction of a stack and fireplace can be considered the most important. With the introduction of fireplaces at the side of the building, floors and ceilings could be inserted and designated rooms created. With fireplaces in general, significantly it introduced the concept of “Privacy” in normal domestic life. No other architectural development has had such a profound influence on our domestic structures and on how we conduct our lives. 

I find this pleasingly ironic as today in the early 21st century we seem to be on a wave of knocking down and knocking through - creating more communal living space. 

No Need to Fear Unesco's Threats. It's Time to Celebrate.

From the Tower of London Across to The Shard

Image ©Ellen Leslie

The world heritage cultural organisation Unesco is threatening to downgrade the Tower of London in the World Heritage Site rankings and put it on the Heritage in Danger List because of the negative visual  impact that the Shard is having on its panorama. The 1,020ft-high Shard, a 66-storey office block next to London Bridge on the south side of the Thames, will be the tallest building in Europe when it is finished.

Apparently such downgrading will affect tourism and put London in a bad light. Something the Department for Culture Media and Sport are keen to avoid – particularly in 2012 when the decision is likely to be made – as it will be at the same time as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and, of course, the Olympics. I think the DCMS should have a little more faith in their own capital city.

Earlier this year I spent a day at the Tower and one of my abiding memories (which I photographed) was the view from the Tower over to the South Bank, where the Shard is being built. My first reaction then, which I still hold firmly today, is that the juxtaposition of these two sites shows what a living breathing, vibrant and vital city London is, was and always will be. 1000 years of history in one panorama. Now, that is something to be proud of!

London is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. It doesn’t take a Unesco ranking to determine the footfall here. London is also home to 8 million people, a city of now, that is constantly changing to meet the needs of its citizens – which it has done so for 2000 years. Now, I’m not advocating that any new construction is valid. If modern day developers had their way, the Tower of London site would be a valuable piece of real estate … but London and its planners, should not be afraid of the new rubbing shoulders with the old.

The fact that the city isn’t preserved like a precious family heirloom, with nothing changing, shows that London has a job to do. It has a life to live. It has purpose. Unlike some cities that live on glories past and seem to deny the present, London celebrates both.