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A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are
trained Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...
. The origin of the word is the Late Latin ''pergula'', referring to a projecting eave. As a type of gazebo, it also may be an extension of a building or serve as protection for an open terrace or a link between pavilions. They are different from
green tunnel A tree tunnel is a road, lane or track where the trees on each side form a more or less continuous canopy (biology), canopy overhead, giving the effect of a tunnel. The effect may be achieved in a formal Avenue (landscape), avenue lined with trees ...
s, with a green tunnel being a type of road under a canopy of trees. Pergolas are sometimes confused with "arbors," as the terms are used interchangeably. Generally, an "arbor" is regarded as wooden bench seats with a roof, usually enclosed by lattice panels forming a framework for climbing plants; in evangelical Christianity,
brush arbor revival A brush arbour revival, also known as brush arbour meeting, is a revival service that takes place under an open-sided shelter called an " arbour", which is "constructed of vertical poles driven into the ground with additional long poles laid acro ...
s occur under such structures. A pergola, on the other hand, is a much larger and more open structure. Normally, a pergola does not include integral seating. Modern pergola structures can also include architectural or engineering structures having a pergola design which are not used in gardens. California High-Speed Rail, for instance, uses large concrete pergolas to support high-speed rail guideways which cut over roadways or other rail tracks at shallow angles (unlike bridges or over-crossings which are usually nearly at right angles). (See the high-speed rail pergola structure picture to the right for an illustration.)


Description


Features and types

A pergola is a garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. As a type of gazebo, it may also be an extension of a building or serve as protection for an open terrace or a link between pavilions. Pergolas may link pavilions or extend from a building's door to an open garden feature such as an isolated terrace or pool. Freestanding pergolas, those not attached to a home or other structure, provide a sitting area that allows for breeze and light sun, but offer protection from the harsh glare of direct sunlight. Pergolas also give climbing plants a structure on which to grow. In 1498, Leonardo da Vinci decorated the Sala delle Asse of the
Castello Sforzesco The Castello Sforzesco (Italian for "Sforza's Castle") is a medieval fortification located in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Later reno ...
in Milan to give the illusion of the great square and vaulted reception hall being within a pergola that was made up of the intertwined branches of sixteen huge mulberry trees. The novel project was commissioned by the Duke of Milan,
Ludovico Sforza Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; "the Moor"). "Arbiter of Italy", according to the expression used by Guicciardini,
.


Green tunnels

Pergolas are more permanent architectural features than the
green tunnel A tree tunnel is a road, lane or track where the trees on each side form a more or less continuous canopy (biology), canopy overhead, giving the effect of a tunnel. The effect may be achieved in a formal Avenue (landscape), avenue lined with trees ...
s of late medieval and early Renaissance gardens that often were formed of springy
withies A withy or withe (also willow and osier) is a strong flexible willow stem, typically used in thatching, basketmaking, gardening and for constructing woven wattle hurdles.
—easily replaced shoots of willow or
hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...
—bound together at the heads to form a series of
arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
es, then loosely woven with long slats on which climbers were grown, to make a passage that was both cool, shaded, and moderately dry in a shower. At the
Medici villa The Medici villas are a series of rural building complexes in Tuscany which were owned by members of the Medici family between the 15th century and the 17th century. The villas served several functions: they were the country palaces of the Medic ...
, La Petraia, inner and outer curving segments of such green walks, the forerunners of pergolas, give structure to the pattern that can be viewed from the long terrace above it.


History


Origin

The origin of the word is the Late Latin ''pergula'', referring to a projecting eave. The English term was borrowed from Italian. The term was mentioned in an Italian context in 1645 by John Evelyn at the cloister of
Trinità dei Monti The church of the Santissima Trinità dei Monti, often called merely the Trinità dei Monti ( French: ''La Trinité-des-Monts''), is a Roman Catholic late Renaissance titular church in Rome, central Italy. It is best known for its position above ...
in Rome He used the term in an English context in 1654 when, in the company of the fifth Earl of Pembroke, Evelyn watched the coursing of hares from a "pergola" built on the downs near Salisbury for that purpose.


Historical gardens

The clearly artificial nature of the pergola made it fall from favor in the naturalistic gardening styles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Yet handsome pergolas on brick and stone pillars with powerful cross-beams were a feature of the gardens designed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Sir
Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...
and
Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...
and epitomize their trademark of firm structure luxuriantly planted. A particularly extensive pergola is featured at the gardens of The Hill in
Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
(London), designed by Thomas Mawson for his client
W. H. Lever William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme , (, ; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Having been educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church school ...
. Pergola in Wrocław was designed in 1911 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.


Modern pergolas

Modern pergola design materials including wood, vinyl, fiberglass, aluminum, and
chlorinated polyvinyl chloride Chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) is a thermoplastic produced by chlorination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin. CPVC is significantly more flexible than PVC, and can also withstand higher temperatures. Uses include hot and cold water deli ...
(CPVC) rather than brick or stone pillars, are more affordable and are increasing in popularity. Wooden pergolas are made either from a weather-resistant wood, such as western red cedar ('' Thuja plicata'') or, formerly, of coast redwood ('' Sequoia sempervirens''). They are painted,
stained A stain is a discoloration that can be clearly distinguished from the surface, material, or medium it is found upon. They are caused by the chemical or physical interaction of two dissimilar materials. Accidental staining may make materials app ...
, or use wood treated with preservatives for outdoor use. For a low maintenance alternative to wood, the contemporary materials of vinyl, fiberglass, aluminum, and CPVC can be used. These materials do not require yearly paint or stain like a wooden pergola would, and their manufacture can make them even stronger and longer-lasting than a wooden pergola. These contemporary material pergolas can also be motorized to open and close.


See also

*
Breezeway A breezeway is an architectural feature similar to a hallway that allows the passage of a breeze between structures to accommodate high winds, allow aeration, or provide aesthetic design variation. It is a pedestrian walkway because it is intende ...
*
Brise soleil ''Brise soleil'', sometimes ''brise-soleil'' (; ), is an architectural feature of a building that reduces heat gain within that building by deflecting sunlight. More recently, vertical Brise soleil have become popular. Both systems allow low-l ...
*
Latticework __NOTOC__ Latticework is an openwork framework consisting of a criss-crossed pattern of strips of building material, typically wood or metal. The design is created by crossing the strips to form a grid or weave. Latticework may be functional &nda ...
* Patio * Trellis (architecture) *
Vine training systems The use of vine training systems in viticulture is aimed primarily to assist in canopy management with finding the balance in enough foliage to facilitate photosynthesis without excessive shading that could impede grape ripening or promote grape ...


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Garden features Gardening aids Architectural elements Outdoor recreation