Tag: winter garden

Waterford, Ireland

Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

National Library of Ireland, 1929Christmas tree wagon of William Power & Sons, merchants of seeds and trees. Photo taken at Waterford, Ireland, courthouse on December 16, 1929, via National Library of Ireland Commons on flickr.

There’s another good photo of this little girl (possibly a Power) and another loaded company wagon here.

To be
Brought down at last
From the cold sighing mountain
Where I and the others
Had been fed, looked after, kept still,
Meant, I knew — of course I knew —
That it would only be a matter of weeks,
That there was nothing more to do. . . .

— James Merrill, from “Christmas Tree“

The winter garden: Rockwood

Cindy at enclos*ure6 Comments

Rockwood, Delaware, 1982 HABS, Library of Congress“Conservatory interior looking southwest,” Rockwood, near Wilmington, Delaware, 1982, by David Ames, via an Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (all photos here).

Built between 1851 and 1854 in the Rural Gothic Revival style, the estate still exists as the Rockwood Park and Museum.

Designed for Joseph Shipley, a member of one of the leading Quaker mill-owning families in the area, Rockwood is an unusually complete and effective statement of early Victorian taste in the tradition of A.J. Downing and John Clauduius Loudon. The mansion house reflects both early Victorian romanticism and the picturesque merger of irregular architecture and naturalistic landscape. When taken in conjunction, the architecture, the plan, the garden and the remaining furnishings depict a total physical sensibility that is fast vanishing from America.

— 1986 HABS report

Rockwood, Delaware, 1982 HABS, Library of Congress“Conservatory, detail of cast iron columns looking northeast.”

Rockwood, Delaware, 1982 HABS, Library of Congress“Conservatory, roof and northwest wall looking north.”

More winter gardens are here. And more abandoned greenhouses here on the blog Messy Nessy Chic.

The winter garden: Parmelee house

Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

Washington conservatory, Library of CongressThe conservatory of “The Causeway,”  or James Parmelee house, Northwest Washington, D.C., 1919, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The estate has also been called Twin Oaks and Tregaron.  Its 1912 house still stands, and some of the land is a campus for the Washington International School.

James Parmelee was a Cleveland financier and co-founder of the National Carbon Company.

More winter gardens are here.

The winter garden: under the palms

Cindy at enclos*ure2 Comments

Hotel dining room, Library of Congress“Hotel Seneca, Pompeian room, Rochester, N.Y.,” between 1908 and 1915, by Detroit Publishing Co., via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

More winter gardens are here.

The winter garden: red cactus

Cindy at enclos*ure6 Comments

Red Cactus, Preus Museum on flickr“Rød kaktus,” between late 19th c. and 1933, by Inga Breder, via Preus Museum Commons on flickr.

The small Schlumbergera genus of plants is native to the coastal mountains  of southeast Brazil.  By 1860, a number of its cultivars were being sold in England for indoor winter color.

Today, they are commonly called Christmas cactus — or Cacto de Navidad (Spanish), Cactus de Noël (French), and Weihnachtskaktus (German).

The photographer, Inga Breder, was born in Bodø, Norway, in 1855. As an adult she lived in Oslo and became an amateur photographer, competing in and judging competitions.

Merry Christmas!