conservatory.
1. Grander and more ornamental version of a glasshouse or greenhouse used for conserving plants, either a detached structure or one joined to a dwelling, heated and kept humid. Early conservatories were of conventional construction, with large windows, but the finest examples date from C19 when iron-and-glass construction evolved in terms of invention and elegance. While there were early iron-and-glass conservatories in C18, including that at Hohenheim, near Stuttgart, J. C. Loudon invented a curved bendable sash-bar of iron that made further developments possible, including the Great Stove at Chatsworth, Derbys. (1836–40) by Burton and Paxton.

2. Public building devoted to the cultivation of, and instruction in, any branch of art or science, especially music.

Bibliography

Hix (1996);
Kohlmaier & and von Sartory (1986);
Koppelkamm (1981);
Loudon (1834);
Marston (1992);
M. Woods & and Warren (1988)

con·serv·a·to·ry / kənˈsərvəˌtôrē/ • n. (pl. -ries) 1. a college for the study of classical music or other arts.2. a room with a glass roof and walls, attached to a house and used as a greenhouse or a sun parlor.

conservatory (Fr. conservatoire, Ger. Konservatorium). School of mus. training and instruction. Name derived from It. conservatorio, a sch. in Naples, Venice, and elsewhere where children were ‘conserved’ and educated in mus. and other matters.