The Palm House

The Palm House, now a butterfly house, was built around 1909 and was designed by Belcher and Joass. It was damaged by fire in 1949 and restored around 1985. The structure is made of brick on a sandstone plinth, featuring timber and metal glazing bars, as well as painted render and timber columns with an entablature. It has a rectangular plan topped with a convex hipped glass roof. The west facade is symmetrical, with rusticated brick end piers and three bays on each side of an open semicircular porch supported by six Tuscan columns. The bays are separated by similar columns and contain windows with glazing bars. Above the columns, the Doric entablature is adorned with urns. An attic space above the main cornice and below the glazed roof features circular glazed openings in each bay, separated by pilasters, along with a central Diocletian window. Inside the porch, the front wall has three tall glazed openings, with the central one being wider and containing double doors that project forward under a segmental pediment. Both return walls consist of five bays, featuring similar columns and entablature. The Palm House was part of the improvements to Williamson Park that Lord Ashton agreed to fund in 1904 and is located opposite the entrance to the Ashton Memorial, which was the main feature of the park and opened in 1909.