conservatory

conservatory, in architecture, building in which tender plants are protected and displayed, usually attached to and directly entered from a dwelling. It was not until the 19th century that a conservatory was distinguished from a greenhouse, also a building in which tender plants are cultivated but sited in the working area of the garden.

The conservatory was a direct descendant of the orangery, and, like the orangery, it became a decorative architectural feature proclaiming the status of its owner. Its great period was represented by the Palm House at Kew Gardens, London, and by Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace, designed for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London and modelled on a conservatory he had designed earlier.