Home Improvement Blog

Most of us know what a conservatory is but how many of us realise they actually originate from Roman times.  Furthermore the word conservatory is derived from the Italian  ‘conservato’ meaning preserved or stored and ‘ory’ meaning a place for.  From a combining of these terms the word conservatory such as a lean to conservatory is formed and in those bygone times such a building was used for storing food.  Today of course we use it for various reasons such as an extra living room area, more space for the kids or just somewhere to chill out and relax.  The experts tell us that a conservatory is an attachment to the main building where more than 75% of the roof and in excess of 50% of the walls are constructed of a translucent material.

The Romans made fairly good attempts at building structures that enabled the light to get in but that kept the cold out.  They used mica and not glass.

Moving quickly forward to the 17^th century we find that the popularity of this type of building was growing fast although they bore little relationship to the conservatory of today. Early on they were merely very simple structures comprising glass and stone.   They did however serve their purpose to a certain extent being a suitable home for the protection of plants. They had been bought back to members of the nobility and top socialites by the naturalists who had travelled to places like the Far East and the West Indies on various sea voyages during those times. These plants having been bought from foreign, much warmer climes than the UK, thus required the continuance of warmth to protect them and help them to survive. 

Apparently the first conservatory actually built in Britain was the Oxford Botanic Garden and the popularity of the conservatory continued to grow and grow just like the plants inside them!   One contributory factor could have been the fact that prior to 1845 there had been a high tax levy on glass and with the abandonment of this levy it was full steam ahead. 

History mentions that Queen Victoria had a conservatory built in 1842 although it was considered by all accounts to be a bit of a monstrosity and a bizarre creation. 

In today’s modern society lean to conservatories are fully accepted to be one of if not the best invention ever for the garden.  Once built of wrought iron and glass we have today moved on to UPVC, aluminium and wood all of which have their own advantages and disadvantages.  You have a plethora of choices.  Good luck choosing.