Temperate House
![At 628ft long is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world, twice the size of the Palm House, - also designed by architect Decimus Burton.](/Images/godic/202502/15/Kew_Mersekelt13041.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202502/15/Kew_Gardens_Temperate_House_from_the_Pagoda_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2271733041.jpg")
The Temperate House, opened in 1862, is a Grade I-listed showhouse for Kew's largest plants. Rectangular, with pitched roofs, its pillars support wrought-iron ribs. Decimus Burton, the designer, gave the House a mix of decorative motifs, finials, pediments, acanthus leaf capitals, Coade stone urns and statues. According to Greg Redwood, Kew's head of glasshouses, "The effect is similar to the contemporary iron pier pavilions of Eugenius Birch."