In Winston-Salem, the conservatory at Reynolda House has reopened after a yearlong restoration.
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…