In Winston-Salem, the conservatory at Reynolda House has reopened after a yearlong restoration.
by Ross Howell Jr. | photographs by Amy Freeman
In a letter dated May 27, 1912, Katharine Reynolds details what she wants her estate’s conservatory to include — a palm room, a “good-sized” grapery, a tomato section, a large vegetable section, a propagating room and a “nice workroom.” When Lord and Burnham, the premier builder of glasshouses in America in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, responded with their plans and perspectives — and their quote of $7,147 — Katharine wrote back that it was too much money. The greenhouse additions in the rendering were removed.
“In all her correspondence, you get a sense of how direct, hands-on and detail-oriented Katharine was,” says Bari Helms, director of the archives and library at Reynolda House Museum of American Art, which is part of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.
Katharine was, of course, the irresistible force behind Reynolda, completed in 1917. Backed by the tobacco empire of her husband, R.J., Katharine began to purchase tracts of land near Winston-Salem, eventually acquiring more than 1,000 acres, each parcel deeded in her name alone. Her idea was a progressive one — to create a self-sufficient estate that included a country house, a farm utilizing the latest in technology and agricultural practices, a dairy, recreational facilities, and a school.
The conservatory, located very near what is now Reynolda Village, was an integral part of Katharine’s design. October 2024 marked the end of a yearlong restoration of the structure, renamed the Brown Family Conservatory and Reynolda Welcome Center.
“Katherine wanted the estate to look and feel like an old English hamlet,” says Phil Archer, deputy director at Reynolda House Museum of American Art.
“[Contractor] Rough Brothers had access to actual Lord and Burnham plans and molds,” says Jon Roethling, the director of Reynolda’s gardens who oversaw the project. So, for the restoration, the company could use templates on hand, extruding aluminum pieces to match the originals.
“When I walk into the palm house now, the architecture just sings,” Roethling says.
End-to-end, the central structure of the conservatory and the greenhouses flanking it extends more than 300 feet. Sod has been laid the entire length, creating a walking path for visitors. Between the edge of the sod and the foundations of the greenhouses are planting beds, about 8 feet wide, filled with peonies.
“The problem,” says Roethling, “is once the peonies bloomed out, that was pretty much it, visually. I needed someone who could do something amazing.” Roethling reached out to Jenks Farmer, a plantsman in Columbia, South Carolina, who created a design for the peony beds incorporating other perennials that bloom throughout the growing season.
In the conservatory proper, each bay has a different theme.
“This first bay is in the spirit of an orangerie, which represents the birth of greenhouses,” says Roethling. Much like the original 17th-century orangeries in England and throughout Europe, the bay also features olive trees and other fruiting plants, and will be used to illustrate a narrative history of the development of greenhouse structures over the centuries.
The next bay is an arid greenhouse, featuring the five Mediterranean climates of the world — Southern California, the Mediterranean Basin, South Australia, South Africa’s Cape area and central Chile.
The central palm house is elegant, with sealing wax palms with their deep red canes and tall Bismarck palms with their silver fronds, all in large containers. Visitors can compare the broad texture of a palm frond to, say, the fine texture of a fern. “There’s a lot of texture — greens, whites and silvers,” Roethling says.
The next greenhouse bay features bromeliads, orchids and other flora that thrive in the tropics. It’s all about color — abundant, dramatic color. “In here, I want to have freaky things that visitors walk up to and ask, ‘What is that?’” says Roethling with a broad smile.
The final bay serves as a holding house for resting orchids, organized by types, with interpretative signage. “Even though the orchids won’t be in bloom there,” Roethling says, “that greenhouse will still be beautiful and educational.”
Just as Katharine would have expected. SP
