This is the chimney above the boiler that heats the water that creates the mist that descends every few seconds from the roof of the Palm House a hundred metres away.
The designers of the Palm House didn’t want to put the chimney where it would be an eyesore and spoil the view.
So they built it to look like an Italianate Campanile bell tower and situated it near one of the entrances to the garden.
It was designed by Decimus Burton and constructed by Thomas Grisell, and is nearly 33 metres tall.
This was in the 1850s and I wonder what solution designers would have come up with if they were doing it today?
The chimney is now a listed building, so it is forbidden to dismantle or destroy it.
The woman at the Information desk told me that when it snows, the heat in the pipe running from the chimney to the Palm House melts the snow and you can see the route of the pipe.
This second photo is the view from the end of the Palm House. It doesn’t show the size of the Palm House because the building is long and narrow. I took this photo because the light was hitting it in such a way as to make the glass look opaque. Next time I visit I will try to get a decent shot of the whole length of the Palm House.
Leave a comment