— 15 —Riverfront Conservatory

THIS GRAND CONSERVATORY, located on a riverfront estate, engages effortlessly with the original structure, which dates from the early 1800s. The standing-seam copper roof supports an octagonal glass cupola that washes the room with daylight. Custom-designed eave brackets are reinterpretations from those of the main house.

An immense room, the conservatory appears appropriate in scale because of the way its size is broken into smaller elements while respecting the scale of the whole. On the interior, the room was divided into a foyer and a main living space with the two areas separated by interior columns and a change in the roof/ceiling. The complex geometry of the roof helps relieve the room’s boxy shape.