Paradise lost ...how university left historic glasshouse to rot
IT IS one of the country’s most important historic glasshouses, containing tropical trees and plants from around the world.
But slowly it is slipping into shameful disrepair, neglected by the university that owns it, according to campaigners.
The 126-year-old Grade II listed building at Avery Hill Park in Eltham, south-east London, is said to be the second largest temperate winter garden in the country after Kew’s famous greenhouse. It is still open to the public.
But there are signs of neglect, including broken glass and lead flashing coming away from parts of the roof. In the building, weeds and moss grow close to damp walls, and in some areas brick- work has been displaced and broken. There are also pigeons roosting in parts of the roof, including droppings on the floor.
Residents of the area are furious with the local council and the University of Greenwich, which bought the building for £1 when it developed a new campus on the site in 1993.
Campaigners claim the university, which announced plans to sell the winter garden, attached mansion and teaching facilities in 2014, looks set to leave the premises boarded up when it finally leaves the site at the end of next year.
They claim the glasshouse has been deliberately allowed to fall into poor repair, noting that the university can afford to pay vice chancellor Professor David Maguire a salary and pension pot of £267,432 a year – an increase of £5,000 on last year.
The university also abandoned a £2.9million bid for Lottery money that might have helped restore the building.
The glasshouse was originally a prized possession attached to the home of Victorian mining magnate ‘Colonel’ John Thomas North. A petition by residents to save the glasshouse has attracted almost 4,000 signatures. Laurie Baker, of the Eltham Society, said: ‘We can only hope there might be some way of forming a trust for the winter garden.’
A spokesman for the Royal Borough of Greenwich said: ‘ We expect [the university] to meet their obligations to preserve and protect the winter garden.’
The university said broken windows were caused by vandals and added: ‘We are in discussions with the council and Historic England to identify any urgent works that require completion.’