Make a Social Statement in your Outdoor Furniture with a Gazebo
Considered suitable only in a large park-size garden, often on a mansion ground, a gazebo is arguably the largest single piece of outdoor furniture one can have for his garden. It’s a house-like structure that many would classify as a pavilion, a kiosk, or pergolas. They are also known in other countries as belvederes, pagodas, alhambras and follies. They are often octagonal and are commonly seen in parks and spacious public gardens. Gazebos are free standing roofed structures with a elevated floor platform often requiring a few steps to enter. They can be as large as a symmetric house with all sides open, providing shelter and shade, ornamental columns and have benches along the octagonal sides inside while others have a table in the center.
Typically constructed with a mix of metal and woodand covered with typical roofing materials like singles. Gazebos are the status symbols in any home garden. They can be small enough as pictured above or can be large enough to accommodate a symphony orchestra which was often the venue in open-air concerts conducted in the 19th century Europe and is the favored setting of many of Straus’s waltz performances. In short, just about any garden of reasonable size can have a gazebo for its outdoor furniture.
There are pre-fabricated gazebo structures readily available as a kit any homeowner can construct as a garden furniture. Some of these ready-to-install gazebos come in tent-like styling with poles covered with tensioned synthetic cloth or fabric. You also have the option to install screens over open spaces to ward off flying insects.
A Short History
It’s interesting to note that the word Gazebo was first used by the British architects John and WilliamHalfpennywhen they released their book Rural Architecture in the Chinese Taste (1750). A picture in the book is described as “a ChineseTower or Gazebo, situated on a Rock, and raised to a considerable Height, and a Gallery round it to render the Prospect more complete”.Thomas Jeffersonalso wrote about gazebos which he called summerhouses or pavilions.
Gazebos have been around for a centuries even as early the Chinese and Roman empires. But the more recent ones from the 17th century onwards have more direct ascendancy and affinity to modern day gazebo structures. George Washingtonwas said to enjoy visiting a small octagonal garden structure when inMount Vernon.
