A central part of a visit to any botanical garden is the conservatory, an enormous glass structure that houses a wide variety of exotic flora. America has an abundance of exceptional examples; many have been designated National Historic Landmarks. Crystal Palaces is the first book on garden conservatories in the United States from the Victorian-era structure in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to the recently completed Quad City Conservatory in Rock Island, Illinois. Twenty-five conservatories are presented in detail through lavish color photos and evocative descriptions. Just a few of the spectacular conservatories included are Steinhardt Conservatory in Brooklyn, Fairchild Tropical Garden Conservatory in Coral Gables, Missouri Botanical Garden Conservatories and Climatron in Saint Louis, and Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This unique book presents the architectural and horticultural history of a collection of public garden conservatories in the United States. After an introduction to the purpose, background, and infrastructure of conservatories, Cunningham, a freelance writer for various garden and home publications, presents a chronological tour of 25 examples of large public greenhouses. The great era of Victorian glasshouses began in the late 1800s with Golden Gate Park and lasted until the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was not until the 1960s that environmentalism spurred a resurgence in garden conservatory building, which continues today. Although some of the 170 color images are not sufficiently sharp, they do offer enticing views. The lack of botanical and architectural specificity makes this volume more popular than scholarly, but because it is one of the few texts to address this building type, it will be a welcome addition to large public and academic libraries. Jay Schafer, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
It is a must-have reference book for every travelling gardener. -- Richard A. Brown, President, Pacific Horticultural
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautifully Prepared View of Glass Houses,
By
This review is from: Crystal Palaces, American Garden Conservatories (Hardcover)
Gardeners, Horticulturists , or anyone else will enjoy the beauty of this book. What struck me was the beautiful preparation and the reproduction of the Photos. The color and architectural features leap off the pages.The history of the development of Conservatories adds an extra dimension - and of course nearly every large city has one, open for visiting now ! A great read, and a terrific gift for anyone.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful reference book,
By Bettina Dreyer (Woodside, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Crystal Palaces, American Garden Conservatories (Hardcover)
Important background information on these lovely historic glass houses is matched with lovely photos. It would make an excellent book for planning travel to any of the cities where these conservatories are located. Well known properties are listed as well as ones less famous. This book is a "must" if you are a lover of gardens and plants.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Crystal Palaces, American Garden Conservatories (Hardcover)
As I live close, I have gone to Phipps since a toddler and grew up loving conservatories. As an adult, I get to Longwood as often as I possibly can.
And I have been to several others covered in this book. And as I own a 25 x 80 Wm H. Lutton glasshouse, I get to experience a glass palace every day :-) The photographs in this book are astounding. It must have been a lot of fun for Anne to go to all these glasshouse to write this book :-) An experience I would enjoy much, too :-) Due to this book, I have made a list of those I will be able to visit in the future. And for those I cannot, I am enjoying them immensely via this book :-) Well written, excellent information, very lovely photos .. and out in the open for other to enjoy also when they visit. Thanks :-)
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Although steel was readily available as a building material by the 1870s, San Francisco's conservatory was constructed entirely of wood, from the load-bearing, structural elements to the exterior decorative scrollwork. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
palm dome, many conservatories, new conservatory, palm house, orchid collection, garden conservatories, dart frogs, plant collection Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, Christmas Day, Lincoln Park, Steinhardt Conservatory, Thanksgiving Day, Hamilton Fernery, Volunteer Park Conservatory, Como Park Conservatory, Garfield Park Conservatory, Krohn Conservatory, Longwood Gardens, Missouri Botanical Garden, Duke Gardens, Linnean House, San Francisco, The Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Bolz Conservatory, Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, Desert House, Golden Gate Park, Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, New Year's Day, Phipps Conservatory New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Although steel was readily available as a building material by the 1870s, San Francisco's conservatory was constructed entirely of wood, from the load-bearing, structural elements to the exterior decorative scrollwork. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
palm dome, many conservatories, new conservatory, palm house, orchid collection, garden conservatories, dart frogs, plant collection Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, Christmas Day, Lincoln Park, Steinhardt Conservatory, Thanksgiving Day, Hamilton Fernery, Volunteer Park Conservatory, Como Park Conservatory, Garfield Park Conservatory, Krohn Conservatory, Longwood Gardens, Missouri Botanical Garden, Duke Gardens, Linnean House, San Francisco, The Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Bolz Conservatory, Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, Desert House, Golden Gate Park, Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, New Year's Day, Phipps Conservatory New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 6
books:
See all 6 books this book cites
- Crystal Palace (Architecture in Detail) by Joseph Paxton in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Front Matter (3)
- Botanical Gardens (Flora in Focus Series) by Flora in Focus in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Thanksgiving Day by Gail Gibbons on page 111
- A World of Plants by Missouri Botanical Garden in Back Matter
- A Walk Through a World of Plants: The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory by Allan Appel in Back Matter
See all 6 books this book cites
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