Plein Air Living

A Backyard Conservatory Becomes the Focus of Outdoor Gatherings and Special Events 

- Linda Iaderosa

NO HOUSE IS TRULY ROMANTIC without a conservatory, say architects in England, where the earliest known conservatories were 17th-century compositions of stone used for storing food. Then in the 19th-century, metal structures were used as greenhouses for cultivating plants and resplendent venues for entertaining.

This conservatory is used for a little bit of both. Located on the property where Kim Brandstater lives in a Victorian farmhouse in Sierra Madre, California, with her husband, Justin, and their three children, the structure is made of coated steel with over 100 glass panels.