Inside a Lord & Burnham Restoration: Saving the Original Mark II Ventilation Gear
The frames get the attention, but it is the vent mechanism that decides whether a Lord & Burnham keeps working for another fifty years.
There is a reason a Lord & Burnham greenhouse still turns heads a century after it left the factory. The proportions are right, the glass-to-frame ratio floods the place with light, and the engineering was built to be serviced rather than thrown away. The Mark II ventilation system is a perfect example. It is a clever bit of mechanical design, and when people tell us their old house “can’t be fixed”, nine times out of ten they are looking at gear that simply needs someone who understands it.
So before anyone rips out a vent run and bolts on a modern kit, here is what that original Mark II hardware is, why it is worth keeping, and how we approach bringing one back.
What makes a Mark II worth saving
These systems were over-built in the best way. Heavy cast fittings, long continuous shafts, and a gear train designed so a single operator could open an entire ridge of vents in one smooth motion. That kind of mechanical advantage is hard to replicate with a bolt-on motor, and the parts were made to be greased, adjusted, and rebuilt — not binned. Restore the original and you keep both the look and the feel of the house exactly as it was designed.
The ventilation gear, explained simply
You do not need to be an engineer to understand it. There are really four moving parts:
The operating shaft
A long rod running the length of the vent ridge. Turn it at one end and every vent tied to it moves together.
The gearbox or wheel
The hand wheel or geared head that gives you the leverage to lift heavy sashes with one hand.
The arms and links
The pivoting brackets that translate the shaft’s turn into a sash that swings open and shut.
The mountings
The cast brackets that hold it all to the frame. When these corrode, the whole run goes loose and sloppy.
Restore the original or retrofit?
This is the real question, and the honest answer depends on what is in front of us. Where the original gear is intact, rebuilding it is almost always the better call — it keeps the character of the house and avoids drilling new holes into hundred-year-old castings. Where parts are missing or the shaft has rusted through, a discreet powered retrofit can be the sensible path, and it can be done without spoiling the look if it is planned properly.
Most of what we do sits under the banner of lord and burnham greenhouse restoration, and the goal is the same either way: a vent system that opens easily, seals tight, and looks like it belongs. Sometimes that means saving every original Lord and Burnham Mark II motor and fitting; sometimes it means blending old gear with a quiet new actuator the eye never notices.
What a restoration actually looks like
People imagine it is a mystery. It is not. Here is the usual order of work:
- Survey the whole run. We work out what is original, what has been replaced, and what is missing before touching a tool.
- Free and strip the gear. Dried grease and rust come off, shafts get freed, and every part is checked for wear rather than guessed at.
- Rebuild or replace part by part. Sound castings are cleaned and re-greased; anything beyond saving is matched and remade.
- Re-hang, align, and adjust. The sashes are set so they seal evenly and the wheel turns with one hand, the way it did when it was new.
Questions we get asked a lot
My vents are completely seized. Is the gear scrap?
Almost never. Seized nearly always means dried grease and surface rust, not broken castings. Once it is stripped and freed, the original gear usually turns like it should.
Can you still get Mark II parts?
Some we source as reclaimed originals; others we have remade to match. Between the two, it is rare that a missing fitting stops a restoration in its tracks.
Is a powered retrofit going to ruin the look?
Not when it is planned around the house. A well-chosen actuator tucks away discreetly, and from the path your eye reads it as the original mechanism.
How do I know if mine is worth restoring?
If the frame is standing and the gear is mostly present, it almost certainly is. Send us photos of the vent run and we will give you a straight answer.
Got a Lord & Burnham that needs bringing back?
Tell us what you have and we’ll help you decide what to save and what to renew — no pressure either way.
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