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Tanglewood Conservatories Introduces Upscale
Line of Period Botanical and Palm Houses
March 25, 2008
CONTACT:
Alan Stein
(410) 479-4700
als@tanglewoodconservatories.com
Denton, Md.-
Tanglewood
Conservatories Inc., already well known for its tantalizingly
rich creations of nineteenth-century glass architecture, announces
the introduction of its new line of upscale
botanical and palm houses. Alan Stein, president and
co-founder of Tanglewood remarks that "These structures are
clearly intended to be a direct throwback to the exotic steel
and glass botanical buildings that became so popular during
the late nineteenth-century".
Targeted at the top end of the market, these
custom-designed wood, glass and steel structures can serve as
fully functional greenhouses, botanical display houses or exotic
sunroom additions for Tanglewood's discerning clientele.
"I don't know that these sort of structures have
been built anywhere in the world for over a hundred years",
Stein remarked. Originally made possible by technological advances
in steel and glass production that came out of the Industrial
Revolution, conservatories began to fall out of favor in the
twentieth-century due in large part to the tremendous expense
of maintaining them.
In recent years however, conservatories, sunrooms
and greenhouses have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, particularly
as upscale home additions, since such materials as insulated
glass have made them much more practical.
However, a typical modern conservatory is mainly
a stylized architectural "interpretation" of its antecedents,
the degree of direct relation depending upon the skill of the
designer and the level of commitment to its authenticity by
the manufacturer. In contrast, the new series of Tanglewood's
creations are far closer to the originals than has been possible
to find until now.
"We have literally revived building techniques
that haven't been used since the original great glass conservatories
were constructed", says Stein. "For example, a recent project
was designed using hundreds of small panes of overlapping glass
on its roof to form the curvature of a large dome." "The shingle-like
pieces of glass were each hand cut to fit the intricate framework".
Other features that are often incorporated into
these conservatories include exposed cast iron, decorative steel
structural frames and intricately patterned stained glass.
The cost of this innovation is not insignificant.
With a typical palm house conservatory ranging from several
hundred thousand dollars to well over several million, these
monumental glass artifacts are clearly not for everyone.
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