45-478: The Roof Gardens (formerly known as Kensington Roof Gardens ) is a private roof garden covering 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) on top of the former Derry & Toms building on Kensington High Street in central London . Originally opened in 1938, the gardens were open to the public until January 2018 when the leaseholder, Virgin Limited Edition , was unable to reach an agreement with
90-420: A bare roof receives 100% direct exposure". The planters on a roof garden may be designed for a variety of functions and vary greatly in depth to satisfy aesthetic and recreational purposes. These planters can hold a range of ornamental plants: anything from trees, shrubs, vines, or an assortment of flowers. As aesthetics and recreation are the priority they may not provide the environmental and energy benefits of
135-469: A description of the gardens by Berossus , a Babylonian priest of Marduk , whose writing c. 290 BC is the earliest known mention of the gardens. Berossus described the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II and is the only source to credit that king with the construction of the Hanging Gardens. In this palace he erected very high walls, supported by stone pillars; and by planting what was called
180-537: A description that was later quoted by Josephus . The construction of the Hanging Gardens has also been attributed to the legendary queen Semiramis and they have been called the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis as an alternative name. The Hanging Gardens are the only one of the Seven Wonders for which the location has not been definitively established. There are no extant Babylonian texts that mention
225-451: A green roof are generally no more than a few centimeters up to 30 cm (a few inches up to a foot) in depth, since weight is an important factor when covering an entire roof surface. The plants that go into a green roof are usually sedum or other shallow-rooted plants that will tolerate the hot, dry, windy conditions that prevail in most rooftop gardens. With a green roof, "the plants' layer can shield off as much as 87% of solar radiation while
270-416: A green roof is not necessarily designed for this purpose. A green roof may not provide any recreational space and be constructed with an emphasis on improving the insulation or improving the overall energy efficiency and reducing the cooling and heating costs within a building. Green roofs may be extensive or intensive. The terms are used to describe the type of planting required. The panels that comprise
315-531: A green roof. [REDACTED] Media related to Roof gardens at Wikimedia Commons Hanging Gardens of Babylon The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World listed by Hellenic culture. They were described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines, resembling
360-502: A large green mountain constructed of mud bricks. It was said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon , near present-day Hillah , Babil province, in Iraq . The Hanging Gardens' name is derived from the Greek word κρεμαστός ( kremastós , lit. ' overhanging ' ), which has a broader meaning than the modern English word "hanging" and refers to trees being planted on
405-463: A number of high-rise buildings that Nasir Khusraw in the early 11th century described as rising up to 14 stories, with roof gardens on the top story complete with ox-drawn water wheels for irrigating them. Among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are often depicted as tall structures holding vegetation; even immense trees. In New York City between 1880 and Prohibition large rooftop gardens built included
450-455: A pensile paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he rendered the prospect an exact resemblance of a mountainous country. This he did to gratify his queen, because she had been brought up in Media, and was fond of a mountainous situation. Diodorus Siculus (active c. 60–30 BC ) seems to have consulted the 4th century BC texts of both Cleitarchus (a historian of Alexander
495-583: A raised structure such as a terrace . According to one legend, the Hanging Gardens were built alongside a grand palace known as The Marvel of Mankind , by the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (who ruled between 605 and 562 BC), for his Median wife, Queen Amytis , because she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland. This was attested to by the Babylonian priest Berossus , writing in about 290 BC,
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#1732780270929540-427: Is a garden on the roof of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, recreational opportunities, and in large scale it may even have ecological benefits. The practice of cultivating food on the rooftop of buildings is sometimes referred to as rooftop farming . Rooftop farming
585-432: Is active in green urban development. "Roof gardens present possibilities for carrying the notions of nature and open space further in tall building development." When surveyed, 80% of Singapore residents voted for more roof gardens to be implemented in the city's plans. Recreational reasons, such as leisure and relaxation, beautifying the environment, and greenery and nature, received the most votes. Planting roof gardens on
630-567: Is known about the western portion of Babylon. Rollinger has suggested that Berossus attributed the Gardens to Nebuchadnezzar for political reasons, and that he had adopted the legend from elsewhere. Oxford scholar Stephanie Dalley has proposed that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were actually the well-documented gardens constructed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib (reigned 704 – 681 BC) for his palace at Nineveh ; Dalley posits that during
675-858: Is usually done using green roof , hydroponics , aeroponics or air-dynaponics systems or container gardens . Humans have grown plants atop structures since the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia (4th millennium BC–600 BC) had plantings of trees and shrubs on aboveground terraces. An example in Roman times was the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii , which had an elevated terrace where plants were grown. A roof garden has also been discovered around an audience hall in Roman-Byzantine Caesarea . The medieval Egyptian city of Fustat had
720-804: The Hotel Astor (New York City) , the American Theater on Eighth Avenue, the garden atop Stanford White 's 1890 Madison Square Garden , and the Paradise Roof Garden opened by Oscar Hammerstein I in 1900. Commercial greenhouses on rooftops have existed at least since 1969, when Terrestris rooftop nursery opened on 60th st. in New York City. In the 2010s, large commercial hydroponic rooftop farms were started by Gotham Greens , Lufa Farms , and others. Roof gardens are most often found in urban environments . Plants have
765-583: The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens . Virgin ceased its operation of the Roof Gardens in January 2018 and the site is currently closed to the public. Stephen Fitzpatrick, Founder of OVO Energy and Vertical Aerospace acquired the site in 2021 and will be re-opening The Roof Gardens as a three-storey social club in 2024. It is divided into three themed gardens: Roof garden A roof garden
810-452: The Great ) and Ctesias of Cnidus . Diodorus ascribes the construction to a "Syrian king". He states that the garden was in the shape of a square, with each side approximately four plethra long. The garden was tiered, with the uppermost gallery being 50 cubits high. The walls, 22 feet thick, were made of brick. The bases of the tiered sections were sufficiently deep to provide root growth for
855-523: The Hanging Gardens, although it could be that the gardens were not yet well known to the Greeks at the time of his visit. To date, no archaeological evidence has been found at Babylon for the Hanging Gardens. It is possible that evidence exists beneath the Euphrates, which cannot be excavated safely at present. The river flowed east of its current position during the time of Nebuchadnezzar II, and little
900-444: The ability to reduce the overall heat absorption of the building which then reduces energy consumption for cooling. "The primary cause of heat build-up in cities is insolation , the absorption of solar radiation by roads and buildings in the city and the storage of this heat in the building material and its subsequent re-radiation. Plant surfaces however, as a result of transpiration, do not rise more than 4–5 °C (7–9 °F) above
945-671: The ambient and are sometimes cooler." This then translates into a cooling of the environment between 3.6–11.3 °C (6.5–20.3 °F), depending on the area on earth (in hotter areas, the environmental temperature will cool more). The study was performed by the University of Cardiff. A study at the National Research Council of Canada showed the differences between roofs with gardens and roofs without gardens against temperature. The study shows temperature effects on different layers of each roof at different times of
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#1732780270929990-485: The day. Roof gardens are obviously very beneficial in reducing the effects of temperature against roofs without gardens. “If widely adopted, rooftop gardens could reduce the urban heat island , which would decrease smog episodes, problems associated with heat stress and further lower energy consumption.” Aside from rooftop gardens providing resistance to thermal radiation, rooftop gardens are also beneficial in reducing rain run off. A roof garden can delay run off; reduce
1035-420: The earlier engineer of the same name ). The method of raising water by screw matches that described by Strabo. Philo praises the engineering and ingenuity of building vast areas of deep soil, which had a tremendous mass, so far above the natural grade of the surrounding land, as well as the irrigation techniques. It is unclear whether the Hanging Gardens were an actual construction or a poetic creation, owing to
1080-653: The first century AD; and third, that the legend refers to a well-documented garden that the Assyrian King Sennacherib (704–681 BC) built in his capital city of Nineveh on the River Tigris , near the modern city of Mosul . There are five principal writers whose descriptions of Babylon exist in some form today. These writers concern themselves with the size of the Hanging Gardens, their overall design and means of irrigation , and why they were built. Josephus ( c. 37–100 AD ) quotes
1125-590: The freeholder about renewal of the lease. Derry and Toms new Art Deco department store was opened in 1933. The gardens were laid out between 1936 and 1938 by Ralph Hancock , a landscape architect who had just created the "Gardens of the Nations" on the 11th floor of the RCA Building in New York, on the instructions of Trevor Bowen (then vice-president of Barkers , the department store giant that owned
1170-538: The garden in its maturity. One original panel and the drawing of another are held by the British Museum , although neither is on public display. Several features mentioned by the classical authors are discernible on these contemporary images. Of Sennacherib's palace, he mentions the massive limestone blocks that reinforce the flood defences. Parts of the palace were excavated by Austin Henry Layard in
1215-499: The gardens, and no definitive archaeological evidence has been found in Babylon. Three theories have been suggested to account for this: first, that they were purely mythical, and the descriptions found in ancient Greek and Roman writings (including those of Strabo , Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius Rufus ) represented a romantic ideal of an eastern garden; second, that they existed in Babylon, but were destroyed sometime around
1260-471: The intervening centuries the two sites became confused, and the extensive gardens at Sennacherib's palace were attributed to Nebuchadnezzar II's Babylon. Archaeological excavations have found traces of a vast system of aqueducts attributed to Sennacherib by an inscription on its remains, which Dalley proposes were part of an 80-kilometre (50 mi) series of canals, dams, and aqueducts used to carry water to Nineveh with water-raising screws used to raise it to
1305-597: The lack of documentation in contemporaneous Babylonian sources. There is also no mention of Nebuchadnezzar's wife Amyitis (or any other wives), although a political marriage to a Median or Persian would not have been unusual. Many records exist of Nebuchadnezzar's works, yet his long and complete inscriptions do not mention any garden. However, the gardens were said to still exist at the time that later writers described them, and some of these accounts are regarded as deriving from people who had visited Babylon. Herodotus , who describes Babylon in his Histories , does not mention
1350-490: The largest trees, and the gardens were irrigated from the nearby Euphrates . Quintus Curtius Rufus (fl. 1st century AD) probably drew on the same sources as Diodorus. He states that the gardens were located on top of a citadel , which was 20 stadia in circumference. He attributes the building of the gardens to a "Syrian king", again for the reason that his queen missed her homeland. The account of Strabo ( c. 64 BC – 21 AD ) possibly based his description on
1395-433: The lease to the roof garden and the pavilion, and in 2001 Virgin turned the pavilion into the Babylon restaurant. The more than 100 trees in the garden were given a tree preservation order by Kensington & Chelsea council in 1976, the roof garden buildings were Grade II* listed by English Heritage in 1981 as part of a listing given the whole building, and the garden itself was given a Grade II listing in 1998 within
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1440-468: The lost account of Onesicritus from the 4th century BC. He states that the gardens were watered by means of an Archimedes' screw leading to the gardens from the Euphrates river. The last of the classical sources thought to be independent of the others is A Handbook to the Seven Wonders of the World by the paradoxographer Philo of Byzantium, writing in the 4th to 5th century AD (not to be confused with
1485-400: The mid-19th century. His citadel plan shows contours which would be consistent with Sennacherib's garden, but its position has not been confirmed. The area has been used as a military base in recent times, making it difficult to investigate further. The irrigation of such a garden demanded an upgraded water supply to the city of Nineveh. The canals stretched over 50 kilometres (31 mi) into
1530-412: The mountains. Sennacherib was proud of the technologies he had employed and describes them in some detail on his inscriptions. At the headwater of Bavian ( Khinnis ) his inscription mentions automatic sluice gates. An enormous aqueduct crossing the valley at Jerwan was constructed of over two million dressed stones. It used stone arches and waterproof cement. On it is written: Sennacherib king of
1575-504: The rate and volume of run off. “As cities grow, permeable substrates are replaced by impervious structures such as buildings and paved roads. Storm water run-off and combined sewage overflow events are now major problems for many cities in North America. A key solution is to reduce peak flow by delaying (e.g., control flow drain on roofs) or retaining run-off (e.g., rain detention basins). Rooftop gardens can delay peak flow and retain
1620-481: The recycling of wastes through composting. Becoming green is a high priority for urban planners. The environmental and aesthetic benefits to cities are the prime motivation. It was calculated that the temperature in Tokyo could be lowered by 0.11–0.84 °C (0.20–1.51 °F) if 50% of all available rooftop space were planted with greenery. This would lead to savings of approximately 100 million yen. Singapore
1665-483: The roof's waterproofing. One high-profile example of a building with a roof garden is Chicago City Hall. For those who live in small apartments with little space, square foot gardening , or (when even less space is available) green walls (vertical gardening) can be a solution. These use much less space than traditional gardening. These also encourage environmentally responsible practices, eliminating tilling, reducing or eliminating pesticides, and weeding, and encouraging
1710-407: The run-off for later use by the plants.” “In an accessible rooftop garden, space becomes available for localized small-scale urban agriculture, a source of local food production. An urban garden can supplement the diets of the community it feeds with fresh produce and provide a tangible tie to food production.” At Trent University , there is currently a working rooftop garden which provides food to
1755-424: The site and constructed the building). They cost £25,000 to create and visitors were charged 1 shilling to enter. Money raised was donated to local hospitals and £120,000 was raised during the next 30 years. The building housed the department store Derry and Toms until 1973, and then Biba until 1975. In 1978, the garden's Art Deco tea pavilion was redeveloped into a nightclub, in 1981 Virgin Limited Edition bought
1800-541: The student café and local citizens. Available gardening areas in cities are often seriously lacking, which is likely the key impetus for many roof gardens. The garden may be on the roof of an autonomous building which takes care of its own water and waste. Hydroponics and other alternative methods can expand the possibilities of roof top gardening by reducing, for example, the need for soil or its tremendous weight. Plantings in containers are used extensively in roof top gardens. Planting in containers prevents added stress to
1845-568: The tops of buildings is a way to make cities more efficient. A roof garden can be distinguished from a green roof , although the two terms are often used interchangeably. The term roof garden is well suited to roof spaces that incorporate recreation, and entertaining and provide additional outdoor living space for the building's residents. It may include planters, plants, dining and lounging furniture, outdoor structures such as pergolas and sheds, and automated irrigation and lighting systems. Although they may provide aesthetic and recreational benefits
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1890-415: The upper levels of the gardens. Dalley bases her arguments on recent developments in the analysis of contemporary Akkadian inscriptions. Her main points are: King Sennacherib's garden was well-known not just for its beauty – a year-round oasis of lush green in a dusty summer landscape – but also for the marvelous feats of water engineering that maintained the garden. There
1935-460: The world king of Assyria. Over a great distance I had a watercourse directed to the environs of Nineveh, joining together the waters.... Over steep-sided valleys I spanned an aqueduct of white limestone blocks, I made those waters flow over it. Sennacherib claimed that he had built a "Wonder for all Peoples", and said he was the first to deploy a new casting technique in place of the "lost-wax" process for his monumental (30 tonne) bronze castings. He
1980-410: Was a tradition of Assyrian royal garden building. King Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) had created a canal, which cut through the mountains. Fruit tree orchards were planted. Also mentioned were pines, cypresses and junipers; almond trees, date trees, ebony, rosewood, olive, oak, tamarisk, walnut, terebinth, ash, fir, pomegranate, pear, quince, fig, and grapes. A sculptured wall panel of Assurbanipal shows
2025-580: Was able to bring the water into his garden at a high level because it was sourced from further up in the mountains, and he then raised the water even higher by deploying his new water screws. This meant he could build a garden that towered above the landscape with large trees on the top of the terraces – a stunning artistic effect that surpassed those of his predecessors. The gardens, as depicted in artworks, featured blossoming flowers, ripe fruit, burbling waterfalls and terraces exuberant with rich foliage. Based on Babylonian literature, tradition, and
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