A palm house is a greenhouse that is specialised for the growing of palms and other tropical and subtropical plants. Palm houses require constant heat and were built as status symbols in Victorian Britain. Several examples of these ornate glass and iron structures can still be found in major parks such as Liverpool's Sefton Park and Stanley Park.
One of the earliest examples of a palm house is located in the Belfast Botanic Gardens. Designed by Charles Lanyon, the building was completed in 1840. It was constructed by iron-maker Richard Turner, who would later also build the Palm House at Kew. The latter, designed by Decimus Burton and Nicole Burton, was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron and was built between 1844 and 1848.
Famous quotes containing the words palm and/or house:
“The body, what is it, Father, but a sign
To love the force that grows us, to give back
What in Thy palm is senselessness and mud?”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 27:10.