Palm house in Botanic Gardens, Belfast

Botanic Gardens is home to the Palm House and the Tropical Ravine.

The Palm House contains a range of tropical plants, hanging baskets, seasonal displays and birds of paradise, and is one of the earliest examples of a glasshouse made from curved iron and glass. It shows how advances in glasshouse technology allowed horticulturists to grow exotic plant species during the Victorian period.

...The most striking and interesting feature of Belfast Botanic Gardens is the Palm House, with its two wings flanking a bold elliptical dome. One cannot but applaud the determination of the men who directed the Garden in its early days and who, without outside financial help, built a curvilinear glass house before Kew or Glasnevin had one. And it was most likely a source of satisfaction to them that when Kew and Glasnevin put up their Palm Houses, they both chose the contractor who had built the wings of the Belfast house.

The building was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon, who also helped design parts of nearby Queen's University. The foundation stone was laid in 1839 and the two wings were completed in 1840 by leading ironmaster, Richard Turner. The dome was added in 1852.