Sunderland Winter Gardens

Sunderland Winter Gardens on Burdon Road, on the edge of Mowbray Park

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens combines a museum, art gallery, exhibition space and Winter Gardens to create a stunning visitor attraction in the heart of the city centre.

In the Museum, discover the history of the city from its prehistoric past to the present day. Exciting displays interpret the wide variety of collections, using hands-on exhibits, computer interactives and video presentations.

The Art Gallery features paintings by L S Lowry together with Victorian masterpieces and artefacts from the four corners of the world.

The stunning Winter Gardens stimulate the senses with over 2,000 flowers and plants brought together in a spectacular showcase of the world's natural beauty.

http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/sunderland/

I've been looking at the Glass structure of the Winter Gardens, Sunderland a once Shipbuilding town and Glass making centre has had a wonderful history in quality engineering and glass making, as was world renowned for these practices. It's such a shame that these industries are no longer thriving, but the Glass Centre in Sunderland has managed to maintain a living testament to Sunderland's past.

Mowbray Park used to have a Victorian Winter Palace, but during World War 2 it was damamged so much, it had to be demolished. The new building has replicated the exotic planting and also has the fish pond, which were said to be in the original.

So the Winter Gardens Building is an echo of the past of Sunderland.

Here are some sketches I have done from the outside of the structure.

Here, I've altered the perspective, and have focused on the metal man-made framed structure from within, juxtaposed with the banana leaves, which, by rights, have no business in Sunderland at all!!!!