BURTON, Decimus - b. 1800 London, d. 1881 London

English architect and urban planner, a prolific Greek and Roman Revival architect and an expert on the construction of glass and iron conservatories.

Burton was trained as an architect in the practice of his father James Burton (1761-1837). He also studied with John Nash. His first project was a huge exhibition hall near Regent’s Park that was demolished in 1875. He designed gardens and buildings at the London Zoo and also planned the layout of Hyde Park and designed the Constitution Arch at Hyde Park Corner.

In 1832 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. For 30 years he was occupied with Kew Gardens, planning the layout and designing the main buildings. Together with Richard Turner (c.1798-1881) he created the Palm House at Kew (1844-48). He went on to build Victoria Gate (1848) and Water Lily House (1852) at Kew. Another concentration of his work can be found at Fleetwood on the coast of Lancashire. His Custom House in that city is now a museum. In 1869 he retired and he died in 1881.

Palm House

Besides iron, another new material in architecture, large panes of glass, was used from the 1810s in hothouses in conjunction with iron structures, as can be seen in the still-extant great Palm House in Kew Gardens, dating from 1844-48. From then, glass moved on to great exhibition halls, leading to a revolution in architecture which would later become the full-blown skeleton construction system.

Burton created the Palm House together with Richard Turner (c. 1798-1881).