4 Stunning Conservatories in London You Must Visit

London's most beautiful glasshouses — Victorian iron-and-glass icons and a hidden tropical jungle in the City.

Kew's Palm House — a Victorian icon

Completed in 1848, this was the first greenhouse built on this scale — and the first large-scale use of wrought iron in architecture. Its upper walkway takes you up into the treetops.

The Temperate House — the world's largest Victorian glasshouse

Twice the size of the Palm House and 19 metres at its tallest point, it reopened in 2018 after a huge restoration. Designed by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner.

A tropical jungle above the Barbican

London's second-largest conservatory sits on top of the Barbican's theatre fly tower, with over 2,000 plant species plus terrapins and koi carp. Free on selected open days — and it closes for a major renovation at the end of 2026, so check the Barbican website first.

Chiswick's 1813 glasshouse and its ancient camellias

Built in 1813 and once the longest conservatory of its time, it shelters one of the oldest camellia collections outside China and Japan — some trees date back to 1828.

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