A Modern Orangery in a 17th-Century House

We're somewhat obsessed with breaking down the barriers between indoors and out, and an orangery is the perfect way to experience that middle ground, combining the cover and comfort of home and the bright, nature-filled oasis of the garden.

As Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe put it in the foreword of the delightful book The English Garden Room, ‘the supreme purpose [of orangeries] is the creation of a crystal box that for a brief period carries you to the shores of the Mediterranean (or some equally warm area) to which we are biologically attracted.’ The ‘garden room’, meaning a structure that is located in the garden, separate from the main house, has had something of a comeback in recent years. The Covid lockdown and consequently crowded urban houses made this idea particularly fashionable. Loggias and verandas, which are essentially covered balconies or terraces that have one side open to the elements, conjure up images of classical Mediterranean villas or tropical houses. Meanwhile the term ‘conservatory’ seems to be in something of a decline, owing to unfortunate associations with plastic structures tacked incongruously onto the backs of houses.

What is an Orangery?

The idea of an ‘orangery’, however, has a much more sophisticated ring to it, and indeed in its purest form, an orangery is a glorious thing. Think of the orangery as the ancestor of all garden rooms, at least in European terms. It was in the 17th century that the (recently acquired) English mania for oranges led to the building of special structures to keep them at the required temperature. These tended to be built out of brick, with flat roofs and large windows along the south side to flood them with sunlight.

At Sezincote House in Gloucestershire, the orangery is just as glorious as the main structure. While the earlier versions were usually low-slung and freestanding, the 18th-century and 19th-century orangeries that emerged at grand houses such as Belton House in Lincolnshire, Sezincote in Gloucestershire, and Croome in Worcestershire, were simply spectacular.

The Evolution of Orangery Design

From the early 18th century onwards, orangeries and greenhouses began to be used as social spaces and not merely functional ones. Daniel Defoe described the greenhouse at Wanstead, a fine Palladian house in Essex, as ‘an excellent building fit to entertain a prince.’ The orangery (now Sculpture Gallery) at Woburn Abbey. With this change of use, it made sense to begin attaching orangeries to houses, rather than having them situated in the garden itself. And they came in various styles: classical temples were favoured by John Nash, fanciful Indian and Chinese-inspired structures had their time in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, alongside picturesque Gothic miniature castles. One of the most prolific designers of orangeries in this period was Sir Jeffry Wyatville, who created the examples at Chatsworth, Woburn Abbey and Longleat, alongside many others. He favoured a simple freestanding design built.