Richard Turner

Who was Richard Turner?

Richard Turner was an Irish iron-founder and manufacturer of glasshouses, born in Dublin.

His works included the Palm House at Kew Gardens, the glasshouse in the Winter Gardens at Regent's Park in London, the Palm House at Belfast Botanic Gardens and the Curvilinear Range at the Irish National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Ireland. He was a pioneer in the structural use of wrought iron. The glasshouses which he designed were sophisticated and innovative, as the use of wrought and cast iron was at the leading edge of building technology at the time. He used standardised components and prefabricated elements manufactured off-site for later assembly, together with curved glass in long lengths.

Turner designed and constructed the railway sheds at Westland Row and at the Broadstone in Dublin, and Lime Street in Liverpool, but also turned his hand to the design and manufacture of railings, boilers, cisterns and bedsteads. His entry in Thom’s directory for 1849 describes him as ‘manufacturer of wrought-iron gates, railway conservatories, hothouses etc., and hot water engineer’, indicating the broad range of activities which the firm undertook.