More History and Heritage.....

1841-1885: The flowering of Kew

Palm House

Kew Today.....

The Waterlily House

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The Waterlily House

The Waterlily House is another of Kew's classic listed buildings, again with ironwork by Richard Turner. Built in 1852, it was then the widest single span glasshouse in the world, designed specifically around a 36 ft (11 m) concrete pond to house the huge attraction of the age, Victoria amazonica, the giant Amazonian waterlily.

The fully-glazed cast and wrought iron Waterlily House is essentially square in floor plan, with a projecting rectangular porch. Its columns sit on a low masonry plinth, similar in concept to the Palm House, but much simpler in detail

Sadly, the giant Amazonian waterlily never did well and in 1866, the house was converted into an Economic Plant House for medicinal and culinary plants.

The building was repaired in 1965, following extensive wartime damage, when the intermediate glazing bars were replaced with aluminium alloy, and again in 1992 when they were replaced with stainless steel.

In 1991, it was converted back to its original use and today, it is the hottest and most humid environment at Kew and contains, as well as waterlilies, other very interesting plants.

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On to: Broad Walk