"Stove" = greenhouse??

[Orchid Whisperer]

This is more of a history than a greenhouse question, but I was unsure where else to post. I was looking something up & came across some odd wording in a very old issue of Orchid Review (vol. 9, from 1901, p. 165, viewed on Google Books):

Peristeria pendula (t. 3479) "was imported with many other rarities from Demerara, by John Alcard, Esq., in whose stove at Stratford Green it flowered in January of the present year, and who kindly sent us the drawing here engraved, from the pencil of V. Bartholomew, Esq., Associate of Painters in Water Colours" Bletia patula (t. 3518) is a native of Hayti, which was received at the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, from Dr. Fischer, of St. Petersburg, and flowered finely in the stove.

So, is "stove" an old synonym for greenhouse, or does it mean something else?

[AnonYMouse]

Indeed, one of the definitions for stove is hothouse.

[Bud]

Stove = (Bot.) a plant which requires artificial heat to make it grow in cold or cold temperate climates.

[RosieC]

Interesting, never hear that usage but it makes sense when likened to 'hot house'.

[ALToronto]

Greenhouses used to be called 'stove houses' because their main feature was the source of heat.

[Island Girl]

Originally Posted by RosieC

Interesting, never hear that usage but it makes sense when likened to 'hot house'.

^+1 ..I thought the same, Rosie

[emosupremo]

a factoid i recall reading about the nadir of orchid mania after WWI that used the term stove but this was in capital letters: "The shortage of fuel and labor saw the closure of many orchid houses -- the Great Stove at Chatsworth was blown up the the owner." page 47 of "The Orchid Expert" by Dr. D.G. Hessayon.