winter garden – Page 4

The winter garden: the White House

February 12, 2014April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

Violet house section of the White House conservatory, early 1900s, by Barnett McFee Clinedinst — The violet house section of the White House conservatory, early 1900s, by Barnett McFee Clinedinst

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a whole greenhouse devoted to growing violets for the house during the cold weather months?

Or orchids and palms?

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Frances Benjamin Johnston took the above photographs (except one) in 1889 and 1890.

Or azaleas?

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A large conservatory complex occupied the west side of the White House from 1857. . .

The White House and conservatory in 1857 by Lewis Emory Walker.

until 1902, when the West Wing was built.

The greenhouses in 1889 by Frances Benjamin Johnston.

All photos above via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Four more winter gardens are here.

The perfect loveliness that God has made,—
Wild violets shy and Heaven-mounting dreams.

— Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, from “Sonnet“

The winter garden: palms

January 30, 2014April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

“Glover House, Washington, D.C.(?),” c. 1900, a cyanotype by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

I haven’t been able to find out anything certain about Glover House. It seems possible that it was the home of Charles Carroll Glover, who purchased and then donated the land for Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., in the 1870s. (He lived at “Westover,” at 4300 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., which is now a modern townhouse development.)

He and Johnston moved in the same social circles at the turn of the 19th century. As part of her photography business, she took pictures of the homes of many wealthy Washingtonians (and the White House).

Three more winter gardens are here.

The palm at the end of the mind,
Beyond the last thought, rises
In the bronze decor. . .

— Wallace Stevens, from “Of Mere Being“

The winter garden: cacti in Pittsburgh

January 18, 2014April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ureLeave a comment

“Cacti, Phipps (Schenley Park) Conservatory, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pa.,” ca 1900-1910, by Detroit Publishing Co., via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The Cacti House was added to the Phipps Conservatory in 1902. (The conservatory had been founded in 1893.)

Today the space is called the Desert Room.

There are two more winter gardens here and here.

Thousands of these gray-green
cacti cross the valley:
nature repeating itself. . .

— Brenda Hillman, from “Saguaro“

The winter garden: Mark Twain House

January 15, 2014April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure4 Comments

The conservatory of the Mark Twain House, viewed from the library, Hartford, Connecticut, photographer not noted.*

Samuel Clemens (aka Twain) and his wife built the house in 1874 in a prestigious neighborhood, which included the homes of Harriet Beecher Stowe, garden writer Charles Dudley Warner, and suffragist Isabella Beecher Hooker.

“The Clemenses were known for their ostentatious lifestyle and entertaining,” according to the HABS. “[T]he house was fitted with the most advanced technological equipment of the day, including a telephone, speaking tubes and bells, burglar alarm, gas lighting, central heating, and extensive plumbing.”

The floor of the conservatory is pea gravel.

Another winter garden is here.

Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.

— Mark Twain

*The photo is part of a 1983 Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. You can see and read more of this survey here.

The winter garden: Illinois farmhouse

November 23, 2013April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure3 Comments

“Window of farmhouse living room. Mercer County, Illinois. Hired man lives in house on farm which was formerly residence of owner-operator,” November 1936. Photo and caption by Russell Lee, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.