The Monty Python question “What have the Romans ever done for us” has sometimes been paraphrased to pose the same query about the Victorians. The short answer is ‘a lot’, but it may be conservatories are the best of all.
That would be quite a claim, of course. It was the Victorians that first drew up the rules of football and rugby, and started competitions like the FA Cup, the Football League and Test Match Cricket. They built the world’s first and third underground railway systems in London and Glasgow and constructed overground rail everywhere.
During this time, more people got the vote, better laws were passed to help the poor, prosperity grew, photography emerged, urban sanitation improved and huge numbers of homes were built that are still standing strong today. There was no RAAC in Victorian times.
Indeed, it may be that the architecture of the period is the most compelling feature. Gothic, neoclassical and Italianate styles all flourished and it was at this time that orangeries and conservatories became popular.
Some of these were built as part of grand mansions, but they became an increasing feature of homes for the fast-emerging middle classes.
Previously, taxes levied to fund military spending in conflicts like the Napoleonic Wars, such as the window tax and glass tax (the former is where the term ‘daylight robbery’ comes from) had made any ‘glass house’ a luxury for the very rich, but the repeal of these laws in the 1840s and 1850s, a benefit of the long peace after Waterloo, changed all that.
This meant the notion of a glass house in which people could enjoy plenty of natural daylight without being exposed to wind and rain could be a reality for millions. Oak became a popular building material in those pre-plastic days, setting the bar for style that has never been raised.
Other factors helping conservatories and and orangeries become so common included new technology, the ease of material distribution as railway networks grew, the manufacture of paint at mass scale and wrought iron becoming more common. Alongside this, growing exotic plants and food in warm indoor settings became increasingly popular.
If these innovations and styles set the template, one that carried over into the Edwardian era of the early 20th century, all subsequent innovations are standing on the shoulders of giants.
Of course, one could argue that other Victorian ideas have been improved upon. Some sports are barely recognisable from that time. The London Underground has expanded massively (although Glasgow’s never has). Trains have become faster and more comfortable, even if the Beeching Cuts reduced the benefits of this.
However, it might be suggested that some things have not improved. Just as many despise more modernist and post-modern styles of architecture (with or without RAAC), so many have claimed modern styles of conservatory with their white PVC look dated quickly.
By contrast, Victorian-style oak-framed conservatories and orangeries have a timeless quality about them, One which, like many features of historic architecture, is enduringly popular.
You can have your Dickensian Novels and even inventions like the telephone, electric lighting and fridges; but ultimately, there can be little doubt about the best thing the Victorians did for us.