Glasshouse

When John Ruskin disparaged the Crystal Palace as 'a great cucumber frame', he hit upon a truism. Representing the zenith of Victorian glasshouses, the Crystal Palace epitomized a building type that had been developed by horticulturists and garden specialists on a sophisticated level and a spectacular scale. John Hix's ground-breaking book on the subject, first published in 1974, has been extensively revised and rewritten for this new edition.

The Glasshouse traces the evolution of the building type back to antiquity and goes on to describe developments in the sixteenth century when houses and orangeries were first constructed in glass. The history continues into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when increasingly complex structures were built incorporating iron and industrial construction techniques. The contribution of innovators such as Joseph Paxton and J C Loudon is charted and their influence on the pioneers of twentieth-century design such as Paul Scheerbart and Bruno Taut is examined.

Traces the evolution of the glass building from its humble hothouse beginnings to the climate-controlled, high-tech structures of the 20th century
A wide range of horticultural and other building types, including early 16th-century orangeries and examples from the 18th and 19th centuries when increasingly more complex structures, incorporating iron and industrial construction techniques, were built
Charts the contributions of innovators such as Joseph Paxton and John C Loudon and their influence on pioneers of 20th-century design such as Paul Scheerbart and Bruno Taut
Illustrated with a wide selection of archival and contemporary photographs, etchings and lithographs

John Hix studied architecture at Iowa and Pennsylvania Universities. Now in private practice in Toronto, he is the author of a number of books and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.