r99rl MINTER:THE PALM HOUSEKEW

Principes,3S(l),I991, pp. 9-18

The Palm House at Kew: A New Beginning

Sun MINrnn Royal Botanic Gardens, Keu, Richmond, Surrey TVg 3AB, UK

The Palm House at the Royal Botanic thought fitting that such a garden should Gardens, Kew, probably the most famous have a prestigious glasshousetall enough 'principes' glasshouseof palms in the world, has just to house tree palms, the of the undergonea restoration costing nearly t9 kingdom, the cultivation of which was million. Replantingwas completedlast year limited at that date to the gentry because and I 67 speciesof palm are now displayed of the enormous cost of the glasshouses in a microcosm of the palm-rich (but very required to raise palms to maturity. There threatened) rainforests of the three con- was considerablerivalry over the culture tinents. of palms, over 200 speciesof which were This article will show something of the made available in England via the collec- development of palm collections in Vic- tion of ConradLoddiges's Hackney Botanic torian England, the extraordinary building Nursery in Mare Street, Hackney, East spawned at Kew by the desire to grow London. Kew's collection was only rivalled palms, and detail the recent restoration by that of Hermann Wendland at Herren- and replanting. hausen in Germany. At the beginning of the nineteenth cen- Kew's Palm House was the result of a tury there were significant advances in complex collaboration between the archi- materials used in glasshousedesign; par- tect Decimus Burton and the Irish iron- alleling this there was an increase in the founder, RichardTurnero between the years complexity of plant collections with the lB44 and 1848. Built, at Burton's insis- intloduction of palms. The palm collection tence, next to a lake to mirror its outline at Kew grew greatly during its Victorian (Figs. l, 5), it came to occupy a central heyday. According to John Smith, the first position at Kew with wide treelined ave- Curator, the original collection of palms in nues designedby William Andrews Nes- England was that of Lord Petre at Thorn- field radiating from it. don Hall, Essex, who grew them in soil The most significantfeature of the Palm beds under a house 30 feet high in the House at Kew is that it is built of iron. It I730's and 1740's. Six palm specieswere represents a milestone in the history of "age grown at Kew in 1768, l0 by 1787 and engineering during the Victorian of 20 in 1813. The were plungedin iron" and in the applicationof the material beds of bark into which the roots grew as to glazed structures for the growing of their tubs decayed.By 1830 the collection plants. The novelty of the Palm House, had grown to 40 species.In 1843 the however, is not only that it is iron but also Gardens were expanded from 20 to 65 that it is curved. Sir Gordon Mackenzie "the acres under Sir William Jackson Hooker, had suggestedin l8l5 that form of Director, which eflectively made Kew a glass roofs, best calculated for the admis- national botanic garden as well as one sion of the sun's rays is a hemispherical "has enjoying many royal connections. It was figure" which already given rise to PRINCIPES lVoL. 35

l. The curved shape of the Palm House is fronted by a parterre and a sizeablelake. 2. The dismantled Palm House being surveyed for re-erection in February 1987. The use of wrought iron for the supporting ribs allowed for the planting space to be unobstructed by columns. leell MINTER: THE PALM HOUSEKEW ll

many beautiful curvilinear structures." up nothing but iron was to be seenin every Loudon, who wrote prolifically on garden- direction in the form of rnassiveiron raf- ing matters, gave a great impetus to the ters, girders, galleries,pillars and staircase, practical development of this thiory by and the hot iron floor on which we stood inventing the rolled wrought iron glazing and the smooth stone shelves and paths bar which could be curved into the cur- round the house had the appbarance of vilinear shape. He was not, however, a somedock-yard smithy or iron railway sta- businessmanand relinquished his patent tion than a hothouseto grow tropical plants rights to the firm of W & D Bailey who in, but there it was, and I was to make became responsiblefor many very attrac- the best ofit, and to be responsiblefor the tive structures. good cultivation of the plants which were The shapeof the Palm House is heir to commencedto be put in." the theories of Mackenzie and the glazrng Smith moved the largest plants into the bar of Loudon as patented by the firm of center transept in September lB4B with Bailey. However, it was the skill of the the help of two engineerswith tackle from "The Irish ironfounder, Richard Turner, who first the Deptford dockyard: first being applied wrought iron to the creation of the large palrns So6al umbraculifera (: such a large glasshousefor palms at Kew. S. rnauritiiformis) from the old palm- His essentialcontribution was to substitute house. . . . One plant weighed 17 tons, the "deck wrought iron beam" used in ship- other not quite so much. They were then building for Burton's proposal of much conveyed on rollers to the Palmhouse, a heavier cast-iron main arches. This was a distanceof nearly Vza mile, and drawn up "first" in the history of building design, the steps of the east center door by a though Turner later claimedhe lost !7,000 windlass.Their leaves occupied the whole on the contract through its use. He used width of the doorway.'o At first he was its greater tensile strength when curved to short ofplants becausethe glasshousesfrom span great widths of unsupported spaceto which the plants were drawn constituted the benefit of the broad crowns of the only a quarter of the floor area of the new palms. So it is not inappropriate that, ever house and not enough palm specieshad since, the househas been compared to the then been introduced to fill it. The wings uptlrrned hull of a graceful liner. Unlike of the Palm Housewere iiritially left empty. the glasshouseat Chatsworth, the Palm Not everything went well for the new House was constructed entirely of metal house. The subterranean boilers flooded and used curved glass rather than the and it was some years before the problem "ridge and furrow" design invented by was solved. The staff found great difficulty Paxton and, at the Curatorossuggestion, with the cast-iron flogr gratings which had it was tinted green. The importance of the been laid in order to improve the circu- building today is that there are no other lation of heat. It did have the horticultural Iarge, curved iron glasshousesleft in the advantage of circulating heat around the UK; it is a masterpiecein iron and glass. plant roots but it committed the staf to Despite the architectural and engineer- growing everything in pots and tubs. Most ing inventiveness, iron glasshouseswere of the more terider tropical economicplants not popular with horticulturists who feared which Kew was keen to show neededhot- glass breakage through the expansion of bed cultivation and for the taller palms to the metal, not to mention the threat of reach the full height of the building some lightning strikes. The Curator freely planting beds were needed. By the winter expressedhis dislike of iron structures and of l859-60 Dr Hooker had arrangedfor his skepticism at being required to grow large beds to go into the center of the "for plants in the Palm House in looking Palm House, so beginning a tradition of I2 PRINCIPES lVoL. 35 bed culture which has continued in later required and apart from a general loss of restorations.By 1882 Kew held 420 spe- thickness throughout. But when a window cies of palm in the Palm House and in the was blown out by wind in the clerestory nurseries. the engineers were also alarmed to find Originally designedto last 100 years, that the pilaster virtually disintegrated.It the housewas in a sorry state of corrosion was therefore obvious that the windows by the 1950's. It was closedto the public were supportingthe roof, not the pilasters. in the autumn of 1952 after the engineer's Apart from the clerestories,the wrought report of August 195 I recommendedthat iron glazingbars were the major cause of the condition of the structure was such concern. Virtually every bar was badly "a that scheme be prepared in the near corroded at the ends and had suffered cor- future for a complete replacementfor the rosion along the length. house." Designswere indeed mooted. One Sincethe Palm Houseis a Grade I listed idea was to replace the house using the building any restorationor repair work had arches which had lined the Mall in central to be governedby the requirementsofthe London for Queen Elizabeth'sCoronation. Department of Ancient Monuments and Another bizarre proposal was to build a Historic Buildings (now English Heritage). new structure over the top of the existing These included keeping as much as pos- house.Given the post-war desirefor things sible of the original fabric and not preju- to reflect a new, modern, erao it is sur- dicing any of the structural engineering prising that the house was not lost alto- principles of the building. However, the gether, but was savedfor us to enjoy. Palm House is not a building in the tra- The actual restoration work carried out ditional senseof the word, it is rather an "normal" was very comprehensivealthough the house engineering structure. With a was neyer emptied and the restoration was building the various philosophiesof res- essentiallyachieved around the plants. The toration or repair are well known and doc- cost of the project was just under umented. They involve, to a greater or !100,000, excludingthe cost of scaffold- lesser extent, piecemeal replacement or ing, and the budget was exceededby 25%. repair of masonry, plaster or timber. There It was due to these efforts in the 1950's have been few restorations of engineering that the house did survive when so many structures of the size and complexity of of the other great glasshouseswere the Palm House. The house had to be destroyed and that we now have a Palm dismantled completely (Fig. 2), both to allow House to inherit. all of the structural elementsto be exam- However, despite the work in the ined and all junctions to be protected against 1950's, corrosion to the iron continued. rust and to enable re-erection to common The first signs that all was not well occurred lines. The building contains some 7,500 at the beginning of the 1980's when sev- castingsofwhich about one third are struc- eral pieces of gutter fell through the glass tural, the remainder being purely deco- to the floor. rative. From the survey resultsthe amount The body then responsible for mainte- ofreplacement required was assessed.For nance of the buildings at Kew, the Prop- the structural elements this varied from erty Services Agency (PSA), asked Pos- 2O7ofor the dado gutters above the stone ford, Pavry & Partners (later called Posford wall to complete replacementof the clerd- Duvivier) to survey the structure and heat- story components.A drawing wasprepared ing servicesand report on their condition. for each of the structural componentsto They found that the main arch ribs were such detail that it could be worked to by in a reasonablestate, apart from certain a foundry. The glazingbars, however,were areas where strengthening would be more of a problem as wrought iron is no r99ll MINTER: THE PALM HOUSEKEW

3. The altered floor layout in the restored house allowed for many more deep planting beds and for seating areas. Original elements, such as the floor grilles and the redundant bench legs, were reused in the new design. 4. The replanting commenced in April 1989 and combined large specimenssrchas Orbignya phalerata(left) with young plants such as Verschafeltia splendida (right). longer made or rolled in sufficient quantity allow the heat to pass upwards from the and it was decided to replace them com- heating void below and to re-usean impor- pletely in extruded stainless steel, a con- tant element of the original floor construc- troversial decision which some purists felt tion. Other materials for the new, wider "replica'o made the house a rather than a paths and the bed edgingswere chosento "restored" building. The house was glazed reflect the original materials, York stone in toughened glass to improve the safety for the horizontal finishes, path edgings of the public and to reduce maintenance and pavings, and Portland stone (to match costs. the original dado)for the vertical elements, The internal plan was changed consid- bed edgings and walls. Benches were erably with planting beds installed in the installedfor visitorsand at the end of each oconversation wings as well as in the center transept. It wing a area' wasbuilt, recre- was decided that the cast-iron gratings on ating the perimeter benchesof the old house which the palms and cycads used to stand with displaysof potted palms on floor grat- should be re-used in the new walkwavs. to ings. The redundant cast-iron bench legs PRINCIPES lVoL. 35

The Palm House floodlit on the completion of the t9 million restoration in November 1988. from the rest of the house were incorpo- ResearchInstitute took the opportunity to rated into the designof the perimeter beds analysethe sagocontent of the felled trunks (FiS. 3). The housewas provided with a of the Caryola species. But the visual humidfficationsystem for the first time and impact was dramatic. Within a few days the entire boiler and ventilation systems the famous silhouetteof palms through the were renewed.Beneath the center transept central dome had gone. One of the staff a new Marine Display was built for the went home in tears. growth and exhibition of seaweeds, an While the conservedplant material was innovative venture for Kew, but not obtru- kept in a Temporary Palm House specially sive in any way to the palm culture above. constructed for the purpose, the restora- To prepare for this restoration the PaIm tion of the Palm House by contractors House had to be totally emptied of plants Balfour Beatty commencedin the autumn in 1984 for the first time in its history. of t9B5 and was completedin November This involved much propagation,thinning, 1988 when the building was beautifully dispersalof duplicatesand containerization floodlit for a completionceremony (Fig. 5). of specimensplanted in beds.It endedwith Meanwhile the planning of the replant- the felling of all palms over 8 meters tall ing went aheadin the knowledgethat there including a large Phoenix syluestris, a was a totally clear canvas for design. The Caryota urens in full and.a Polyan- proposal was to plant the house as one drococuspectinata just renamed with a integrated habitat, palm-rich tropical rain- long-forgotten name. Specimensfrom all forest (therefore excluding many xero- of thesefelled palms were collectedfor the phytic cycads) and to show the tropics of herbarium. The Tropical Development the three continents of the world in the r99ll MINTER: THE PALM HOUSEKEW I5

6. A yormg plant of Johannesteijsmannia altifrons, not often seen outside South-eastAsia, has been planted in the north wins. three sections of the house. The center "Palm" and by perspective drawings of transept was to housethe richest and most key vistas in the housetaken from 35 mm diverseAmerican flora, including the enor- slides. Particular architectural specimens mous wealth of Amazonia; the south wing were marked as focal points destined to would housethe African flora and the north catch the eye at the end of each walkway wing the floras of Asia, Australasiaand the in the house,an elementof formality which Pacific. In order to accommodateto matu- I thought appropriatefor a Victorian house. rity some of the larger palms, our palm Throughout the planting the specimens taxonomist, Dr Dransfield,suggested using were distributed to give a balanceof exist- the two large beds in the center transept ing size for immediate effect, as well as which were directly under the dome for with regard to their potential size. Wher- the tallest tree palms of the tropics world- ever possible,preference was given to wide (Fig. 4). This underlined, and com- material of natural source origin, which is memorated, the original reason for the more scientifically valuable in any plant building of the Palm Houseto such a height collection that forms a gene bank of living and was the only deviation from the phy- material for research. Particular thought togeographicplan. It is from these that we was given to the placement of the young, hopeto recreatein yearsto comethe superb natural sourcepalms in our nursery, many silhouette of palm crowns which were cut of which would reach plantablesize in 1989 down prior to the 1980's restoration. and would make the Palm Housecollection The planning was assistedby the use of the 6nest in Europe (Fig. 6). To assist in a computer stocklistingsystem code-named the growth of some of the young palms 16 PRINCIPES [Vor. 35

7. Horticultural diploma students mechanize the re-soiling of the new plantings- 8. The planting was shaded for the first two summers by thermal screening tensioned inside the cun'ature of the building.

from Madagascar and in particular of the removal of their containers. many of which double coconut from the Seychelles, an had to be cut off using an electric grinder. area of electric soil-warming blanket was The resoiling n-as mechanized as far as installed in the south wing's center bed. possible using pallet bins which could be The distribution of economic olants was partially tipp.d. and then manhandled, into carefulJy planned and fast-growing plants the beds using a small. hand-operated fork- were plotted with their eventual spread so lift truck (Fig. ;). Cabling was used to guy that several of each species could be planted the root systems of sereral palms under- and then reduced as the area allotted to ground to assist their stability, and internal them became filled. The aim was to build thermal screen shading r*'as provided to up the muitiJayered nature of a tropical aid establishment (Fig. 8). rainforest, with canopy palms and trees, Kew's overall aim in the Palm House climbers and then shorter understory plants is to demonstrate the diversity within palms and palmlets. as a whole and to maintain a stock of The planting was completed between endangered species gronrr from wild col- ApriJ and August 1989 using a spanning lected from those areas most threat- gantry to lift the large, containerized plants, ened by loss of habitat due to population many of which weighed I to 2 tons, up pressure, shifting cultivation, and logging. and over the bed edges and across and So conservation is a principal theme. The down into the beds. The compost was added Palm House demonstrates the richness of around the rootballs of the plants after rainforest and its palms, and the geograph- l99rl MINTER:THE PALM HOUSEKEW T7 ical arrangement emphasizesseveral fea- C. klotzschiana tures of palm distribution including the C- metallica C. microspad,ix diversity of forest floor palms and rattans C. oblongata in South-east Asia (north wing) and the C. pochutlensis plenitude of rare and endemic palms of C. pumila Madagascar and the Mascarenes (south C. radicalis C. stolonifera wing) including and. Voan- c. .P. ioaln. C. tepejilote So far everything is growing well and Chambeyronia tnacrocarpa the Palm House received an official open- Coccothrinax alta ing by HRH the Mother on 6 C. argentea Queen C. d,ussiana November 1990. C. fragrans C. martii "The Greatest Glasshouse,The Rainforests Rec- Cocos nucifera reated" by Sue Minter was published by HMSO on C. nucifera var. jauanica llth September1990 at !25. See p. 26. Copernicia hospita c. .P. Corypha unbraculifera Ghecklistof PalmsDisplayed Cryosophila nana Cyrtostachys renda Acoelorr hap he wrightii Deckenia nobilis Act ino r hyt is cala p p aria Dictyosperma album var. album Aiphanes acant hop hylla D- album var. aureum A. caryotifolia D ry no p hloeus onine ns is A. eggersii Dypsis hildebrandtii Allagoptera arenaria D. humbertii var. angustifuh,a Areca catechu D. m.ocquerysiana A. triandra D. pinnatifrons Arenga engleri Elaeis guineensis A. hookeriana E. oleifera A. microcarpa Erernospatha macrocarpa A. porphyrocarpa Euterpe edulis Astrocarlum mexicanum E. globosa 4."P. Gaussia attenuata A. standleyanum G. maya Baciris gasipaes G. princeps B. guineerxis Gulubia costata B. major Hydriastele microspadix B or ass od,e ndr on bor neens e Hyop horbe lagenicaulis B rassiophoenix schumannii 1L "p. Calamus caesius H. t:erschafeltii C. caryotoides Iguanura uallichiana C. longipinna J oha nnest eij sma nnia alt ifr ons Carpentaria acuminata Laccospad.ix austr alasica Caryota mitis Latania loddigesii C. rurnphiana var. albertii L. oerschafehii Cer at olobus p seudoc o nc olo r Licuala grandis Chamaedorea alternans L. palud,osa C. cataractarun L- rumphii C. concolor L. spinosa C. elatior Liaistona chinensis C- ernesti-augusti L. rotundifolia C. erumpens Lodoicea maldiuica C. aff. sp. erutnpens Marojejya insignis C. falcifera Metroxylon sp. C. fragrans Nenga sp. C- glaucifolia N. gajah I8 PRINCIPES lVoL. 35

N. pumila var. pachystachya Raaenea moorei Neodypsis sp. Reinhardtia gracilis N. baronii? Raphis excelsa cv. Chiyodazuru N. decaryi R. excelsa cv. Daruma lV. sp. aff. Iastelliana R. excelsa cv. Koban Neoueitchia storckii R. excelsa cv. Kodaruma Nep hrosp erma aanhoutteanum R. excelsa cv. Kan-Non-Chiku Oraniopsis appendiculata R. excelsa cv. Tenzan Orbignya phalerata R oscheria melanochaetes Pelagod,oxa henryana Roystonea oleracea Phloga nodifera Sabal bermudana P hoeni co p hor ium bor sigianun S. ninor Phoenix dactylifera Salacca glabrescens P. Ioureirii S- ramosiana Phytelephas seemannii S. zalacca var. amboinensis Pinanga coronatcl Scheelea butyracea P. densiflora Schippia concolor P. disticha Sclerosperma mannii Plectocomia elongata var. philippinensis Syagrus amara Polyandrococos pectinata S. f.exuosa Prestoea nontana S- romanzofiana Pritchardia arecina S. romanzffiana var. australe P. hillebrandtii S. schizophylla P. kaalae var. minima Sy nechant hus war sew ic zia nus P- Ianaiensis Thrinax sp. P. pacif.ca T. f.orid.ana P. remota T- microcarpa Ptychosperma sp. Traehycarpus lortu nei torma wagnerianus P. elegans Veitchia macdanielsii P- lineare V. uinin P. nacarthurii Vers c hafelt ia sp lendida P. salomonense Voanioala gerard.ii P. sanderianun Wallichia densiflora P. waileianum Wodyetia bifurcata Raphia furinifera

Photo Credits: Fig. 2, Property Services Agency; Figs. l, 2, 5, Andrew McRobb, RBG Kew; Figs. 4, 6, 7, B, Sue Minter.

CLASSIFIED

PALM SEED FOR SALE: Rhopalostylis sapida $30 US per 1000 including postage. Limited Quantitiesof Rhopalostylis baueri yar. cheesema.nniat $80 US per 1000 including postage.BRYAN LAUGHLAND, 20 Vic Butler St., Mt. Roskill, Auckland, New Zealand.

RARE Palm .Seedlings and specimens.Send self-addressed,stamped envelope.and $$L00 for information. WANTED: Chamaedorea elegans seedfrom non-lethal yellowing area.HO'OWAIV/AI FARMS, RR l, 199A, Papaikou,HI 96781. (808) 964-5222 or FAX (8oB) 964-5078.