Birmingham Botanical Garden

‘John was impatient to see the site of Birmingham Botanic Garden. He had offered to supply a design without payment if the promoters paid his expenses. Lord Calthorpe owned the land that had been chosen for the new garden. To Mr Loudon's intense disapproval, he was charging the Horticultural Society twice the rent he would have received for a farming lease.’ This is a quote from The Claudians: gardens, landscapes, reason and faith: John Claudius Loudon and Claudius Buchanan, Tom Turner (Kindle, 2024). 

The Controversy Behind Birmingham Botanical Garden’s Design and Rent

Loudon wrote that ‘The rent paid to Lord Calthorpe for the Birmingham garden, of exactly the same extent, on a 60 years' lease, is considerably more than double this. On our suggesting to the committee that they ought to remonstrate with Lord Calthorpe on the extravagance of the rent, considering that the garden would greatly benefit his surrounding estates, we were answered that Lord Calthorpe, being only a life holder, could not let his land for less than the highest price it would fetch, without committing an act of injustice towards his heirs, the estate being entailed. So much for the entail system, which, with the law of primogeniture, will, we hope, be speedily done away with. We detest such excuses. Mr. Trafford has a large family; Lord Calthorpe has neither wife nor child, nor any direct heir. He would not have been guilty of excessive liberality if he had granted the land for nothing. Let him do so still during his lifetime, and the committee will take the chance of what may happen after his death.’

The rent paid to Lord Calthorp may have led to the Birmingham Botanical Society skimping on the cost of the glasshouses. Loudon's own design was for a circular conservatory, a style in which he was a specialist. Examples of this type of work survive in his own house, at Porchester Terrace, and a Bicton. The construction principle Loudon invented was later used, not by him, at Chatsworth and the Crystal Palace.  If his glasshouse design had been used in Birmingham it would surely have been a Grade 1 building and on every list of architectural treasures.

John Claudius Loudon’s Role in Designing Birmingham Botanical Garden

John Claudius Loudon’s involvement in the design of Birmingham Botanical Garden was marked by both enthusiasm and frustration. He offered to provide a design free of charge, contingent on the promoters covering his expenses. However, Loudon was deeply displeased with Lord Calthorpe’s decision to charge the Horticultural Society an inflated rent for the land. Calthorpe’s high rental fees were justified by his need to secure the maximum return due to the entailed nature of his estate, a practice Loudon vehemently criticised. This financial burden potentially hindered the development of the garden, highlighting the tension between philanthropic goals and economic constraints in 19th-century horticulture.

See also: Gardenvisit.com appreciation of John Claudius Loudon.