If you've ever been inside a house with a conservatory, you've likely witnessed
the soft gravitation pulling everyone toward it, as if the house was tilted in that
direction.
W
hile only three sets of doors open out onto
the surrounding stone patio, others are
identical - and continue the room's
tranquil rhythm.
At 21 feet wide, 28 feet long and nearly 20 feet
high at the peak, the room is large (as conser-
vatories go) yet "fits" the house so neatly that
it does not appear to "stand out". Views and
light flood through the steeply-pitched glass
roof affording a unique outdoors sensation
within the comforts of home.
Used as an informal garden room, its sense of
style is unmistakable. Cozy rattan chairs and
The land surrounding this
conservatory slopes gently
toward the river, so the
structure itself becomes a
passage. Taking its propor-
tions and lines from the
house, the conservatory
functions as an architec-
tural palindrome, from
house to yard and back.
sofa with supple stuffing cogitate beneath baskets of flowering flora and
potted palms. At the center of the homes entertainment, the conserva-
tory softens the transition from indoors to out and encourages the
passage between.
This conservatory was added to the home during
a large renovation project that both restored the original historic property
and doubled the size of it as well. From the start, the conservatory was
conceived to mimic the scale and detail of the porticos on the front and
back of the home, so that it would blend perfectly.
Full scale drawings were made
of the existing
cornice and mouldings and used to fabricate the conservatory so that
in the end, the final design was a perfect match. The Doric columns
were specified as exact duplicates of those used on the house and the
roof pitch calculated and built to match as well.
Inside, the conservatory is separated from
the main house by matching french doors. The Palladian highlight
windows are motorized to allow flow-through-ventilation on cool
summer eves.
