Waterlily House, Kew Gardens
From Graces Guide
The Waterlily House opened in 1852. Decimus Burton is credited as the designer, and Richard Turner as the constructor. At the time of its opening, it was the widest single-span glasshouse in the world.[1]
The wrought iron roof trusses are unusual. Rings of diminishing diameter were quite common in the spandrels of early iron bridges, but not in roofs. These rings are solid forgings (note how the ends are joined to the curved tie bar and the 'spectacle plate' in Fig. 4. The rings are not all in mutual contact. The smaller rings are clamped to the roof I-beams and secured to the tie bars by forged links, but they are not connected to each other.
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