The Palm House is over 360 feet Long, & has over 16,000 panes of glass, built 1844-48, to architect Decimus Burton's designs. The Grade 1 listed Palm House is Kew's most recognisable building. It has gained iconic status as the World's most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure.
I went into the Palm House to take photos, but as soon as I went in my glasses & camera steamed up due to the Heat & Humidity.
"Experts consider Kew’s Palm House to be the most important surviving Victorian iron and glass structure in the world. It was designed by Decimus Burton and engineered by Richard Turner to accommodate the exotic palms being collected and introduced to Europe in early Victorian times. This pioneering project was the first time engineers used wrought iron to span such large widths without supporting columns. This technique was borrowed from the shipbuilding industry and from a distance the glasshouse resembles an upturned hull. The result is a vast, light, lofty space that can easily accommodate the crowns of large palms, while boasting 16,000 panes of glass.
Heating was an important element of the glasshouse’s design, as tropical palms need a warm, moist environment to thrive. Originally, basement boilers sent heat into the glasshouse via water pipes running beneath iron gratings in the floor. A tunnel ran between the Palm House and the Italianate Campanile smoke stack that stands beside Victoria Gate. This 150-metres long (490ft) passage served the dual purpose of carrying away sooty fumes to be released from the chimney and enabling coal to be brought to the boilers by underground railway.Today, the glasshouse is heated using gas, and the tunnel houses the Palm House Keeper’s office. Originally, palms, cycads and climbers were planted in large teak tubs or clay pots that sat atop benches above the iron gratings. However, in 1860, two large central beds were dug and the tallest palms planted in them. Subsequently, most of the glasshouse’s plants were dug into beds to form a miniature indoor tropical rainforest.
The Palm House is 362ft long and shaped like a nave. Its ribs are at 12ft 6in centres. It has 5,500 components and 16,000 panes of glass." Text Source: (
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