Advances in glass and iron framing in the early nineteenth century produced large heated greenhouses and public conservatories, such as the Palm House at Kew completed in 1848 to a design by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner. These structures let exotic plants, and people, occupy controlled climates under glass year-round. The conservatory entered public parks, winter gardens and exhibition grounds as a new civic amenity. The type fed directly into the glazed arcade and the great exhibition hall.
The glasshouse pioneered the controlled-climate public interior and the glazed civic amenity, anticipating the covered arcade, atrium and winter garden.