European garden design in the 19th century increasingly included garden furnishings such as shaded seating and ornamental buildings. These were created in an attempt to embellish the natural character of the rural landscape and encourage outdoor activities. Shown here are designs intended to be novel but yet still practical, such as umbrella-like seats that could be dismantled easily to form the shape of a compass and packed up “as is usual with officers’ tents.” John Buonarotti Papworth (1775-1847) was appointed architect to the King of Wurtemberg and was known for his watercolor illustrations.
Ice houses and ice wells, which provided a means to refrigerate perishable provisions during the warmer months, were often an important consideration in rural landscape architecture. Instead of constructing these buildings beneath ground, garden designs often included ornamental above-ground ice houses. These structures provide an example of how this most “necessary and useful appendage to a country residence” could shape and augment the rural landscape and thus “take something of an ornamental or picturesque character.”
- Habitations champêtres: Recueil de Maisons, Villas, Chalets, Pavillons, Kiosques, Berceaux, Parterres, Gazons, Serres, Orangeries, Parcs et Jardins by Victor Petit. Paris: Monrocq Frères, 1855.
- Reproductions from Hints on Ornamental Gardening by John Buonarotti Papworth. London: Printed for R. Ackermann, 1818.
- Hints on Ornamental Gardening by John Buonarotti Papworth. London: Printed for R. Ackermann, 1818.