There For The Restoring, There For The Enjoying!

SHARON, CONN. -- The structures rise from a wooded hillside on Red Horse Hill... a circa 1720s center chimney colonial, a circa 1800s post-and-beam barn, and a circa 1924 conservatory/greenhouse.

Though they look as if they had been here forever, actually this collection of meticulously restored structures all came from different locations.

And, though the house and barn have both been subjects of extensive restorative time, work and dollars, it is the greenhouse that has captured the heart of their owner, Charles Tebo of New York City. So dedicated has he become to the saving of these uniquely different botanical structures that Tebo has scheduled a by-invitation open house and informal seminar in Sharon to provide counsel and guidance to others with similar plans.

Historic greenhouses and their preservation fall into two categories, Tebo told Historic Homes & Properties, and probably many sub-categories.

The two main divisions are: those that will be restored on their original sites and foundations, versus those that will be dismantled and moved to new locations.

Sub-divisions include: hobby or conservatory-style greenhouses versus ones suitable for professional botaniculture; and glasshouses that will be used for their original purposes versus those that will serve mainly decorative or solarium functions. Cost and difficulty factors vary widely, depending on the category(ies) into which one's project falls.

Tebo himself is the third owner of an 18-foot wide by 26-foot long cast-iron and cypress, conservatory styled greenhouse. Originally the property of Samuel Colt in Pittsfield, Mass., the house had been dismantled and moved once to nearby Lee, Mass., by its second owner. A non-professional house, it was moved to a new site (by Tebo) but will be used for Charles' hobby of growing dwarf conifers and bonsai creations, a complex combination of categories to be sure.

Nearby, in the village of Sharon, a friend of Tebo's has just completed the extensive on-site restoration of a large, country colonial dwelling with additions, and its two-story early 1900s garage. On the property sits a similar greenhouse to Tebo's, perhaps a bit later in construction, but missing some of its glazing and with extensive exposure to encroachment vegetation and the weather. Also a conservatory-style design, this house may be restored on-site for purely casual hobby plantings by the owner's wife. The complexity of its preservation will be simpler in some areas, perhaps more difficult in others for a variety of reasons, and Tebo explored both with us.

Both these greenhouses, as is true of perhaps a major percentage of the salvageable structures of their type in the northeast corridor, were made by the premier construction and design company of their era -- Lord & Burnham. Materials are ferrous-metal support framing, with wooden glazing ribs. It's worth noting, as Tebo pointed out, that the older houses were cast-iron with cypress, while newer models were steel and redwood (probably after the late 1930s or early '40s).

The designs of Lord & Burnham units were modular. That is, either curved-eaved gables or angle-eaved gables (the curved usually were smaller hobby-style models, the others for larger commercial application), with vertical supports at designed intervals (perhaps 8-foot 2-inches for hobby houses, 10 feet for the commercial ones), and regularly spaced wooden ribs to receive the glazing (glass).

"If you can identify the original owner by name," suggests Charles Tebo, "you may be able to secure copies of the original plans from the New York Botanical Garden's library, or information from the Avery Library at Columbia University in New York." Tebo was fortunate in that Samuel Colt's Pittsfield unit was on file.

"There definitely were hundreds of Lord & Burnham greenhouses throughout the countryside," Charles opines, since they were made for most of the Twentieth Century, in fact right up until the 1990s. Companies such as Rough Brothers (pronounced "Rau") in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Under Glass in Lake Katrine, N.Y., may be sources for parts and designs still. And the curved glazing for those models may still be available from Eagle Convex Glass Co in Clarksburg, W.Va.

Tebo suggests that anyone contemplating the purchase of a historic greenhouse try to ensure that the object of their affections still has all or most of its glass.

"When the glass is broken," he said, "you get trees growing inside, and even can have problems with the cypress glazing bars of the older models. If it's a newer, redwood-barred house, definitely check for deteriorated wood."

The so-called "Dome House" in Franklin Park, Boston, now is for sale according to Tebo, but has been exposed to the effects of the weather for some 30 years. An engineering report expressed the opinion that the metal has been greatly reduced in dimension by rust and weathering.

In dismantling a greenhouse to be either restored on-site or moved, care is of key importance. "You don't want to break any of the cast iron brackets, and it is important to take the frame completely apart, separating all parts by size and type," was the suggestion.

Restoring a greenhouse on-site may be somewhat easier and less expensive than moving it, providing the foundation knee-wall is still in good shape. For example, the frame of Edith Wharton's greenhouse at The Mount in Lenox, Mass., (see Historic Homes & Properties, May 1998) is still restorable, but the brickwork knee-wall will have to be completely rebuilt. Only extensive shoring has kept the entire structure from crumbling into the ground.

"Knee-wall integrity also is of special importance," Tebo continued. Reconstruction may be necessary if the house is to remain on site, or reconstruction accurate to within 1/2-inch, should be undertaken if the house is moved. This owner/restorer suggests that the knee-wall material be of reinforced concrete, definitely not cinder blocks.

The framework should be sandblasted and, while many owners have the work jobbed out, Tebo suggests that the equipment is relatively inexpensive and the work, while labor-intensive, doesn't require any great skill. All elements should be refinished with a zinc-rich primer and two topcoats of a high quality two-part epoxy coating.