Lord & Burnham Greenhouses

Restoration, motor repair, and genuine parts for one of the most legendary greenhouse builders in North America.

🏆125+ Years of L&B Heritage

📦Big In-House Parts Stock

🔧Restoration & Motor Repair

Owning a Piece of History

If you’ve got a Lord & Burnham greenhouse on your property, what you actually have is a piece of North American history. For over 125 years L&B was the leading greenhouse builder in the US and Canada, and a lot of those structures are still around today, on private estates, in botanical gardens, and on historic properties everywhere.

Greenhouses became a big deal on the East Coast after the 1853 World’s Fair in Bryant Park, New York, where the star of the show was the New York Crystal Palace, a giant greenhouse made out of iron and glass. That moment basically kicked off a generation of American greenhouse design.

The Lord & Burnham Story

1856 Frederick Lord, a carpenter by trade, starts Lord’s Horticultural Manufacturing Co. in Massachusetts.

Late 1800s Business moves to Irvington, New York, on the Hudson River. That site stays the L&B headquarters for over a century.

Partnership Lord’s son-in-law, William Addison Burnham, joins up. Lord & Burnham is born, and they start building greenhouses all over North America.

Heyday L&B has facilities running in Irvington, NY; Des Moines, IA; and St Catharines, Canada.

Later years The company becomes a division of the Burnham Corporation, who made industrial boilers at the time.

1982 After 126 years, Lord & Burnham closes its doors. Every surviving L&B greenhouse is now a genuine piece of horticultural history.

So if you’re lucky enough to have one of these on your property, it’s worth taking care of. We’ve worked on these structures for years and can help with just about any part of restoring or renovating them. We can even build you a brand new greenhouse that looks like an L&B but runs on modern heating and cooling, so it’s actually efficient.

What We Do for Lord & Burnham Owners

Restoration

Glazing, re-caulking, structural repair, frame restoration. We bring these old L&B structures back without losing the look that makes them special.

Motor Repair & Replacement

In-house repair, rebuilds, and OEM-quality replacement motors. We’ve got the biggest stock of genuine greenhouse vent parts in North America.

Heating, Cooling & Controls

Modern environmental controls for old greenhouses, thermostatic vent control, curtain drives, zone management, the works.

New Builds in L&B Style

If you want the look but the efficiency of a modern build, we can design and build one for you.

The “Honeymoon House” Story

L&B prided itself on two things, design innovation and being responsive to customers. The story of the “Honeymoon House” covers both. It was a big four-wing greenhouse shaped like a T. The center house measured 22′ by 25′, with three wings of 18′ by 25′ each. Pretty and practical, especially for winter gardening on a larger scale.

The story behind it is kind of charming. On a warm July day, a newlywed couple was on a train from New York City up to Bar Harbor, Maine. Their train stopped for a long while opposite a big greenhouse just like the one above. The bride, who was from Florida, kept looking at it. She started thinking about how the warm July she was enjoying was going to turn into a frost-killed fall, and then her first miserable winter in the Northeast.

She talked it over with her husband, and somehow it almost seemed like the train wouldn’t move until they decided they had to brighten up that winter with a greenhouse of their own. When they got to Bar Harbor, the bride sent a telegram to Lord & Burnham, told them the story, and asked for a price on the design she’d described. That telegram is how the “Honeymoon House” design got made.

Lord & Burnham Motor Repair — FAQ

We work on L&B motors for greenhouses all across North America. These motors are running in tough conditions, so they need to be looked after every now and then. Here are the questions we get asked the most.

I just bought a house and it came with a greenhouse. Looks like there’s a Lord & Burnham motor in it. How do I figure out what I’ve got?

Most L&B motors have a metal nameplate or a stamping on the housing with the model number. The 311 and Mark II series are the most common vent motors we see. Snap a few photos of the motor body, the nameplate, and the wiring, then send them to us. We’ll tell you what it is.

It looks burned out or really old. Should I clean it or just replace it?

Don’t write it off yet. We rebuild a lot of motors that look beyond saving. Send it in for a diagnostic, we’ll open it up, look at the gearbox, brushes, and seals, and tell you whether a rebuild makes sense or it’s time for a new one.

If I need to replace it, does it matter if I go with a Lord & Burnham motor versus something cheaper from overseas?

Yes, actually, quite a bit. Genuine L&B and OEM-quality replacements were built specifically for greenhouse use, sealed housings, real gearing, the right torque output. A lot of the low cost offshore stuff uses lighter parts and worse seals, and they don’t last in this environment. We see them fail constantly.

So they’re better motors?

From what we see in the shop, yes. Genuine L&B and OEM-grade motors consistently outlast the generic ones. Heavier gearing, better seals, better torque, all that stuff adds up over the years.

Are they more expensive?

Upfront, yes. Over the life of the motor though, almost always cheaper. A premature failure can damage your vent arms and linkages, and an emergency replacement in the middle of a hot season is a much bigger bill than just buying the right motor in the first place.

Does Lord & Burnham make a lot of different motors?

They did, yes. They made motors for roof vents, sidewall vents, ridge vents, louvers, and curtain or shade drives across a bunch of different greenhouse models. We stock parts and OEM-quality replacements for most of the common ones.

Can you add extra modules to your motors?

Sure can. Limit switches, thermostatic controls, weather-sensing modules, timed and automated controllers, all of that can be added. Tell us about your current control setup and we’ll suggest what makes sense.

What kind of warranty do you offer?

Depends on the motor (new vs rebuilt) and the install conditions. Give us a call and we’ll go through the warranty details for the unit you need.

Can I get it serviced locally instead of shipping it?

Honestly, shipping it to us is usually the more reliable option. We’ve got the biggest in-house parts stock in North America, so we can usually turn around a rebuild faster than a local guy can even find the right parts.

Can you help me swap the motor, or should I do it myself?

We’ll talk you through the install if you’re handy. For bigger or commercial systems though, get a real tech to do it. Bad installs cause more motor failures than anything else, by a long shot.

If I redesign my greenhouse, can I still use the Lord & Burnham motors for the vents?

Usually, yes. L&B motors play nice with most modern controllers. When you’re redoing the greenhouse, we can tell you what control or wiring upgrades will help you get the most out of the original hardware.