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Joseph Paxton, Large Greenhouse at Chatsworth/Derbyshire, England, (1836-1841)
The Duke of Devonshire’s greenhouse comprised a half-barrel on cast iron pillars with side naves totaling 85 meters in length, 38 meters in width and 20 meters in height. With the exception of the pillars and a peripheral gallery, the building employed a wooden framework with large laminated trusses. The profile of the countless slender transoms were milled with the aid of a steam driven machine which Paxton had specially built for the purpose. The glazed surfaces of the greenhouse all employed the ridge-and-furrow principle of small gable roofs. Paxton chose this solution for it’s lighting advantages: it captured the sunlight more easily in the mornings and evenings and partly refracted it at midday.
