Lord & Burnham was a noted American boiler and greenhouse manufacturer, and builders of major public conservatories in the United States.

History

The company began in 1849 when Frederick A. Lord, a carpenter, started building wood and glass greenhouses for neighbors in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. It became Lord's full-time profession in 1856 as production moved to Syracuse, New York and then to Irvington, New York to be closer to his customers in the large

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

estates. In 1872 Lord's son-in-law William Addison Burnham joined the firm. Their first major commission came in the 1876 when California philanthropist

James Lick James Lick (August 25, 1796 – October 1, 1876) was an American real estate investor, carpenter, piano builder, land baron, and patron of the sciences. The wealthiest man in California at the time of his death, Lick left the majority of his es ...

hired the firm to create a conservatory similar to that in

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of the ...

. Its parts were fabricated in New York and shipped to California by boat around

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

. Lick died before the greenhouse could be constructed, but the materials were used to build the

Conservatory of Flowers The Conservatory of Flowers is a greenhouse and botanical garden that houses a collection of rare and exotic plants in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. With construction having been completed in 1879, it is the oldest building in the ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

's Golden Gate Park.Barmann, Jay (January 14, 2022
"In Its History, SF's Conservatory of Flowers Has Burned Down Twice, and Was Nearly Destroyed By a Windstorm In 1995"
'' SFist'' In 1881 the firm constructed the first steel-framed curvilinear greenhouse in the United States for railroad magnate

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him ...

, on a property now open as Lyndhurst. In 1883 the partnership incorporated as Lord's Horticultural Manufacturing Company, and in 1890 the name was changed to today's Lord & Burnham Company. Beginning in 1894, the company purchased underwater property beyond the tracks in Irvington and began filling in to create new land for an expansion. The expansion complex was completed by 1912, at which time the company employed 250 men. The company used the property as additional factory space in the production process of their greenhouses. By 1988, only about a dozen employees remained at the Irvington factory, and Lord and Burnham ceased to exist when the factory closed in that year.

1989 Acquisition

Lord & Burnham's product line was acquired in 1989 by the Under Glass Manufacturing Co., which continues to manufacture Lord & Burnham greenhouses and solariums. Rough Brothers also derives products from the Lord & Burnham name and product line. William Addison Burnham continued to make boilers and the company he founded, Burnham Commercial, continues to do so today.

Conservatories

The company's early greenhouses were made of cypress before switching to iron or steel. Although experimentation with aluminum began in 1932 with the

United States Botanic Garden The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is a botanical garden on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., near Garfield Circle. The Botanic Garden is supervised by the Congress through the Architect of the Capitol, who ...

, commercial production was not economical until 1955. Major Lord & Burnham conservatories include: *

, Golden Gate Park,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, 1878-1879, a wood-and-glass greenhouse *

Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden set in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a City of Pittsburgh historic landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The gardens wer ...

Schenley Park Schenley Park () is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. In 2011, th ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, 1892–1893 *

Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens The Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens are botanical gardens located within South Park in Buffalo, New York, United States. These gardens are the product of landscaping architect Frederick Law Olmsted, glass-house architects Lord & Burnham ...

, 1895–1899 *

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

, 1899–1902 *

Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park is a state park located at 151 Charlotte Street in Canandaigua (city), New York, Canandaigua, New York (state), New York, at the north end of Canandaigua Lake, in the Finger Lakes region of Upst ...

Canandaigua, New York Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora) is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county complex ...

, 1903–1915 * Reynolda Gardens,

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

1912 *

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, 1933 *

Volunteer Park Conservatory The Volunteer Park Conservatory is a botanical garden, Conservatory (greenhouse), conservatory, and List of Seattle landmarks, Seattle landmark located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington at the north end of Volunteer Park (Seattle), Volu ...

, Volunteer Park,

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, 1912 * Krohn Conservatory,

Eden Park, Cincinnati Eden Park is an urban park located in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The hilltop park occupies , and offers numerous overlooks of the Ohio River valley. History The park's acreage was purchased by the city in 1869 from Jos ...

, built 1933, restored by Lord & Burnham in 1966

Company archives and historic plans

The title to the company's archives was given to the Archives of the

in 1990, along with their historic architectural plans. The collection includes over 140,000 architectural plans for more than 7,000 glass structures.

Gallery

File:Conservatory of Flowers 1879.jpg, The

as it appeared in 1879, before its dome was replaced following a fire in 1883 File:DETAIL OF CENTRAL PAVILION - Lyndhurst, Greenhouse, 635 South Broadway, Tarrytown, Westchester County, NY HABS NY,60-TARY,1B-3.tif, Detail of the central pavilion of the greenhouse at Lyndhurst,

's mansion in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

(1971) File:Phipps conservatory.JPG, Phipps Conservatory,

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

File:Bridge Street 1800s.jpg, The Lord & Burnham Building on the Irvington, New York waterfront in the 1800s File:Lord and Burnham Building.jpg, The building has now been converted into apartments, and a new home for the Irvington Public Library (2007)

References

External links

Buffalo Gardens.com: "Crystal Palaces"
— ''article on Lord & Burnham''.
Guide to the Lord & Burnham Collection at the New York Botanical Garden
- ''resource that contains general historic information about the company, as well as a searchable database of historic glasshouse plans'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lord and Burnham Greenhouses in the United States Architects from Buffalo, New York Landscape design history of the United States Manufacturing companies based in New York (state) Companies based in Buffalo, New York Design companies established in 1849 Manufacturing companies established in 1849 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1988 1849 establishments in New York (state) 1988 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct companies based in New York (state)