A conservatory, more modernly known as a greenhouse, is a glass and metal building where tropical flowers and plants can be grown in a protected and controlled environment.
They can be an addition to a home or a free-standing structure.
Many cities that are in the colder climates have large public conservatories where people can go to enjoy tropical flowers and plants all year long.
This type of conservatory became popular in the early nineteenth century.
Near the end of the century people were hosting social gatherings, such as tea parties, in these conservatories.
Garden conservatories are small and generally used as an extra room on a home, instead of the whole area being dedicated to plants and flowers.
This kind of conservatory became prominent in the mid-twentieth century and is also referred to as a sunroom.
They became popular as people wanted to enjoy the natural beauty of the landscape, while at the same time being protected from the elements.
As technology continues to improve, the quality and efficiency of the materials used to construct conservatories improves as well.
While glass and metal are still the most widely used materials, plastics and wood can be used as well.
Tempered glass is usually the glass of choice for the windows, and the roof can be glass, shingled, or a plastic which allows light to filter through.
They have become so efficient, in fact, that these sunrooms can now be built in the hotter climates, and are no longer restricted to the colder climates.
As populations grew, so did the desire for privacy in home conservatories.
European companies pioneered the use of window blinds and treatments, and it quickly became a very lucrative business.
They were specially designed to fit the windows without affecting the integrity of the structure.
Technology has allowed the homeowners to adjust the blinds by the touch of a button on a hand-held remote.
The earliest conservatories known date to the seventeenth century in England.
They were constructed of stone with more glazing than the main structure of the building, and were used mainly for scientific purposes to preserve plants and seeds collected from other parts of Europe, South America, and Australia that would otherwise not survive the comparably harsh climate in England.
Public conservatories can be found virtually all over the world today.
Some of the more notable ones are: the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, which has a total floor space of 270,000 square feet, the Muttart Conservatory in Canada, which consists of 4 pyramid shaped structures, The Kew Gardens in London, which celebrated their 250th anniversary in 2009 and care for the largest collection of living plants, The Palm House in the Belfast Botanic Gardens in Ireland, which is one of the earliest examples of curvilinear cast iron glass houses in the world, and many, many more in the United States.
Almost all of them can be toured year round, with the exception of the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken which can only be visited during a two week period from April-May while the flowers are blooming.