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First snowy day of the winter in Chicago, so let’s escape with more tropical artifice! This lush combination of foliage and Brutalism can be found at the Barbican Estate in London. #quarantravel
The Barbican Conservatory was built to conceal the fly tower from the Barbican Theatre below it, in the manner that a jungle conceals an ancient temple.
Being a British establishment, there is of course a white tablecloth café at the Barbican Conservatory as well.
In the smaller arid section, brick raised beds bring the Barbican Estate's motif of repeated (semi-)circles into the Conservatory.
Next let’s visit the Desert Dome at the Omaha Zoo. It’s got animals in it so this may technically not qualify as a conservatory. But I don’t care, it’s a glass dome with some plants under it!
The Desert Dome was built in 2002 and is the largest glazed geodesic dome in the world.
Some of the Desert Dome's acrylic panels are tinted to optimize solar gain.
Now off to St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden!
The Climatron at the Missouri Botanical Garden, completed in 1960, is a geodesic dome help up by a complex aluminum network of compressed tubes and tensioned rods.
The Climatron was the first greenhouse in the world to have full artificial climate control.
None of my photos from 2011 really do the scale of the Climatron justice, but it is beautiful.
Can't leave St. Louis without swinging by the Jewel Box in Forest Park!
The Jewel Box was built in 1936. Thanks to its dramatically-stepped glass walls and clerestories, you wouldn't know that it has a flat wooden roof to prevent hail damage.
One downside to conservatories is that they have doors that are sometimes locked. This is all I've seen of the Jewel Box interior. Wonder if Eero Saarinen visited here before pitching his contribution to the St. Louis skyline...
Now to Toronto's Allan Gardens, where the 1910 Palm House, a late Victorian confection, shares an urban park site with two imposing church buildings - including Jarvis Street Baptist Church, a great Doors Open Toronto sites.
The grand dome of the Allan Gardens Palm House is impressive enough, but it feels like maybe there should be some taller palm trees under it. Perhaps there were at some point.
