Pagoda & Pagoda Vista

There was a fashion for Chinoiserie in English garden design in the mid 18th century, and Chambers was a keen advocate, reacting against the sweeping 'natural' lines of contemporaries such as 'Capability' Brown.

The Pagoda was completed in 1762. The ten-storey octagonal structure is 163 ft (nearly 50 m) high and was, at that time, the tallest reconstruction of a Chinese building in Europe. It tapers, with successive floors from the first to the topmost being 1 ft (30 cm) less in diameter and height than the preceding one.

The original building was very colourful; the roofs being covered with varnished iron plates, with a dragon on each corner. There were 80 dragons in all, each carved from wood and gilded with real gold.

There have been several restorations, mainly to the roofs, but the original colours and the dragons have not been replaced, though the question of replica dragons was discussed in 1979.

Virtual tour: View from the Pagoda

In 2006 the Pagoda briefly opened for public access. Those who climbed its 253 steps were rewarded with spectacular views across the gardens and across London, with the London Eye, the new Wembley Stadium, and as far as Canary Wharf all visible. This view is available as a 360° panorama online.

The BBC have installed a camera at the top of the Pagoda as a window on the weather. It has captured some of the extremes that have been experienced so far in 2007.

Pagoda Vista

Three great vistas are the landscape designer William Nesfield's indelible signature on today's Kew. In a 'goose foot' pattern radiating from the Palm House, Pagoda Vista was a handsome grassed walk some 850 m (2,800 ft) long; Syon Vista was a wide gravel-laid walk stretching 1,200 m (3,937 ft) towards the Thames; while the third, short, vista fanned from the northwest corner of the Palm House and focused on a single 18th Century cedar of Lebanon towards Kew Palace.

Pagoda Vista is lined with paired broadleaved trees with, flanking them and to their exterior, paired plantings of evergreens. Nesfield's idea of being able to both see and walk to the Pagoda along the centre line of Kew Gardens was, in fact, an inspired return to the turn of the century landscape.

Juniper Collection

The Juniper Collection consists of seven beds at the base of the Pagoda to its east side and a large area of grass to its south-east. The junipers in the collection represent a large range of forms and colours, from low-growing species such as Juniperus sabina and tall, conical species such as Juniperus communis forma suecicia.

Continue the tour

Back up to: Pagoda Vista Zone

Carry on to: Japanese Gateway and Landscape

See also

Kew's History & Heritage: The Pagoda