Historian Sergei Troubetzkoy will discuss the history and rise of American Orangeries such as the one at Battersea. This free event covers their evolution from status symbols to their eventual decline.
Event Details:
September 26th, 2026 | 2-4 PM | Petersburg Public Library Multipurpose Room | 201 W Washington St, Petersburg, VA 23803
Advance Reservations are required. Reserve your free ticket below:
Learn More about Orangeries Below:
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An Orangery or Orangerie is a dedicated structure usually built from the 1600s into the early 19th century, that were designed to house orange and other non-hardy fruit trees such as lemons, limes and pineapples to keep them alive through cold winter months. Unlike Greenhouses that would later be developed and designed to propagate plants, Orangeries were designed to simply keep these expensive plants alive until warmer weather. Because the functions of Orangeries and Greenhouses were not the same, their designs were very different.
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An Orangerie provided a luxurious extension of the normal range and season of woody plants. During the 17th century, fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, pineapples, pomegranates, and banana trees arrived in huge quantities at European ports, exposing Europeans for the first time to these exotic fruits. Since these plants were not adapted to the harsh European winters, Orangeries were invented to protect and sustain them. The high cost of glass made orangeries a status symbol showing wealth and luxury. Gradually, due to technological advancements, Orangeries became more of a classic architectural structure that enhanced the beauty of an estate garden, rather than a room used for wintering plants.
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During the 1700s and into the early 19th century, the popularity of Orangeries in Europe spread as a status symbol in America where various citrus were also becoming both popular and expensive, and many Orangeries were constructed on estates in Virginia and areas where winters made it impossible to keep citrus alive during freezing weather. Battersea in Petersburg has a rare surviving Orangerie. Historian Sergei Troubetzkoy will discuss the history of Orangeries and how and why they became fashionable in America and what also led to their abandonment as citrus became readily available over time along with the development of Greenhouses that were, unlike Orangeries, designed to propagate plants rather than simply keeping them alive during freezing temperatures.