50 abandoned greenhouses (and one cat)

May 22, 2019 7:40 AM

A compendium of abandoned greenhouses
posted by moonmilk (19 comments total)

I do love me some decrepit Lord & Burnham.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:59 AM on May 22, 2019

must be fun to be a cat in an abandoned greenhouse, all pretending to be a Big Jungle Kitty
posted by dismas at 8:09 AM on May 22, 2019 [11 favorites]

Thanks for sharing these. I like the idea of "random internet search of the day," and specifically these greenhouses gone feral. They're looking much better than these sad structures north of Santa Maria, CA. I recall driving past them years back, but those Google Streetview images from 2018 show them to be in pretty bad shape, and nature hasn't gone wild inside them it seems.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:12 AM on May 22, 2019

Those abandoned giant agaves give me megalophobia
posted by msbutah at 8:13 AM on May 22, 2019 [7 favorites]

Candid toe beans in Trieste!
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:28 AM on May 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

If I had the means, I would build greenhouses, let them go to seed, and then just keep building bigger greenhouses around the decaying ones.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:37 AM on May 22, 2019 [6 favorites]

the peeps at Folk Horror Revival really like this!!!
posted by supermedusa at 10:51 AM on May 22, 2019 [3 favorites]

These are all much nicer and larger then the abandoned greenhouse in my backyard. It currently functions as a place to put bikes, squirrel skeletons, a home for mice and a place for stray cats to give birth - so I am always torn about taking it down.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:54 AM on May 22, 2019 [3 favorites]

These are so cool. I'm kind of torn because looking at the pictures I think about the people who put so much work into some of these and now they're being swallowed by the earth. At the same time I really enjoy when man-made things are overtaken by nature generally. The one that was restored is the best of both worlds.

If the inside climate wasn't unbearable I'd love to live in the “Cosmic Greenhouse” with tubes between each dome like a giant Habitrail. I live near some geodesic dome houses, but they're not quite as 'cosmic'
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 10:55 AM on May 22, 2019 [4 favorites]

The one in Yonkers has been torn down.
If you're into Lord and Burnham, the NYBG library has a collection of their blueprints. You need to make an appointment with their archivist to see them, but if you're really into that sort of thing, they're insanely lovely.
posted by sciencegeek at 11:43 AM on May 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

Thank you, sciencegeek! Lord & Burnham Co. Records, 1881-1998: The collection contains over 140,000 architectural plans, drawings and renderings that include data on structural and site elements for more than 10,000 glass structures. Hubba hubba.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:03 PM on May 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

Speaking of greenhouses and agaves...

Garfield Park Conservatory has an agave that's ready to bloom, and its stalk is so tall that they had to make a hole in the roof!
posted by moonmilk at 3:10 PM on May 22, 2019 [6 favorites]

I love these! Some of my earliest memories are of abandoned greenhouses. When I was a child, my father was head (often only) gardener on a series of big estates which had about a dozen gardeners before the first world war, and were down to my dad and one or two part-timers from the village by the 60s. There were walled gardens full of run-to-seed vegetables with one wall of lean-to greenhouses where muscat grapes and peaches still produced some fruit, the huge cold frame full of Parma violets where the air was almost purple with the scent, a conservatory with flowering camellias growing out of the roof and the tiny one where I kept my white mice.
posted by Fuchsoid at 3:51 PM on May 22, 2019 [7 favorites]

These are giant versions of the 40+ year old bottle garden FPP from yesterday.

Thanks for the Garfield Park agave story, moonmilk! I definitely need to make a point to go and see it over the summer.
posted by Fig at 5:12 PM on May 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm absolutely salivating over that steampunk greenhouse. Love the Victorian ones.

I want to restore ALL the (old) greenhouses!!
posted by BlueHorse at 5:15 PM on May 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

There were walled gardens full of run-to-seed vegetables with one wall of lean-to greenhouses where muscat grapes and peaches still produced some fruit, the huge cold frame full of Parma violets where the air was almost purple with the scent, a conservatory with flowering camellias growing out of the roof and the tiny one where I kept my white mice.

hi please take my money right now as a preorder for the children's book you write about this
posted by taquito sunrise at 11:56 PM on May 22, 2019 [4 favorites]

I built a greenhouse in the garden a couple of years back. It's still new and shiny, but maybe I should get someone to photoshop it into a decrepit state. Could certainly serve as a memento mori...
posted by Harald74 at 12:11 AM on May 23, 2019

Wow, ok, solarpunk distopia is definitely my aesthetic.
posted by antinomia at 4:59 AM on May 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

These are so cool! Or hot, whatever!
posted by RandomInconsistencies at 12:41 AM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]