Restoring/Rebuilding a Victorian Greenhouse

[MisterBoy]

I have mentioned this before on and off but our house came with this when we moved in - a Victorian brick structure with boiler and heating pipes inside. The roof had clearly been replaced (plastic).

 

[MisterBoy]

We wanted to restore it and removed all the pipes, but sadly found the wooden structure was too rotten to easily salvage and had to remove it, we tidied up the walls and floor a bit:

 

[MisterBoy]

To protect the walls and be able to use it for storage we had a roof constructed sort of like a bus-shelter, so we could figure out what to do later.

 

[MisterBoy]

The current issue is that the structure was tremendously wobbly, until those bracings were added in all directions. Instantly it became rock solid.
But we want to put large windows in and losing all those corners is a bit of a bind. The idea is it will be part clad (e.g. shiplap) and I am assuming the cladding will give some rigidity too, but a bit unsure how best to proceed. Ideas are welcome

 

[Odds]

First of all, i'm green with envy: what a building!
I guess i'd start by looking to see which spot gets most sunlight then proceed from there. Glass will be very expensive but you can shop around, maybe find a toughened glass with plenty of upvc support inbetween the panes - don't forget a skylight to allow airflow in summer.
Some will say plastic is better but a building like that deserves glass to bring it back to former glory, and i think plastic is harder to keep clean, easy to scratch and just looks wrong on this type of g.house.
Large windows will bring a better view but subject to more stress and can be easily broken, so a balance will be between how much of a view you want - i'm assuming you're going to turn it into a g.house for plants and not a summer house.

 

[bluebaron]

look on marketplace/ebay for glass, always loads on there people give it away, might not be right. size but maybe. you could adjust the frame slightly.

 

[MisterBoy]

look on marketplace/ebay for glass, always loads on there people give it away, might not be right. size but maybe. you could adjust the frame slightly.

I need double glazing really. You do see people giving that away too but obviously I'd have to adjust the walls to the panels rather than vice versa