Albert's Greenhouse

The Temperate House at Kew is the largest ornamental glasshouse in the UK, at 52,000 square feet. Construction was started in 1860, but not completed for many years due to funding difficulties. The main center block and the octagons at each end were built between 1860 and 1862. The end blocks were added between 1860 and 1899. In many ways it's a similar plan to the palm house, but much more blocky and square. There's a big tall central area and then two shorter wings off to the sides.

The temperate house re-creates a temperate environment - most of the plants inside seem to be from coastal mediterranean parts of the world where it gets cool, but does not freeze. For me, this means that many of the plants are familiar as landscaping around the San Francisco Bay Area, and therefore perhaps not as interesting as those in the tropical or alpine houses. There are certainly a lot of palm trees.

The Temperate House is somewhat off the beaten path, and seems not to be as popular as the Palm house or the Princess of Wales Conservatory, at least. It is worth the walk, however, if only for the architecture. The structure was renovated between 1972 and 1980, and is still looking pretty good.