All-in-one ShadeScape® pavilion kit featuring an upper deck, metal railings, a diving platform, and a built-in waterfall for swimming poolside shade, and extra entertainment space.  

Explore pavilions and gazebos from cultures around the globe, throughout the ages, as well as one designed for the future. From gazebos made of pure gold to pavilions covered in priceless ancient gems and ancient porcelain pots; you may never look at pavilions and gazebos quite the same again.

The majority of our arbors, gazebos, pavilions, and pergolas are for outdoor living areas. An example of this is the ShadeScape® pavilion kit installed for the Sanders family, featuring a built-in waterfall.

On the other hand, this commercial ShadeScape® pergola kit provides extra space and an outdoor atmosphere to dine in.

ShadeScape® #PergolaKit w/ #IntegratedOutdoorPower and Lighting with #TrellisFence

Enjoy a journey through time and across the globe to learn some of the history, places, significance, and practices utilizing of pavilions, pergolas, and gazebos.

India, together with China, forms the oldest cohesive countries in the world, dating back thousands of years. The advantage of being an ancient country is the traditions and practices that are still a part of their culture.

If you are ever touring there, it is a temple and so you can not wear your shoes inside. The head has to be covered with a scarf and your feet washed before entering. Travelers say it is an amazing experience, and the view from the roof-top gardens beneath the golden gazebos is beautiful!

The Mudejar Style Kiosk, Neomudejar Art, Chignahuapan - Puebla Mexico

In Puebla Mexico, is a town called Chignahuapan, which is also called a magical place, a Christmas town, for its vibrant colors and factories producing millions of glass Christmas ornaments every year? The town was founded in 1481.

In Chignahuapan's Plaza de Armas (the main square) is an all-wood kiosk, the kiosk Chignahuapan, built-in 1871, finished in stunning detail and vivid colors. The kiosk is Neomudejar art in Mudejar style. Mudéjar is not a specific style of architecture but rather the application of ornamental and decorative elements.

The Chignahuapan Kiosk is used for performances and as a gathering place.

The world’s largest outdoor museum is the Ancient Siam museum located in Thailand. The museum includes 116 pavilions, temples, and shrines, as well as floating shops and markets.

Historians of Greece and Rome tell of the exquisite Hanging Gardens of Babylon, several tiers of pavilions in the middle of the desert was an underground system of aqueducts, engineered to bring melted snow from the mountains watering the gardens. 

Seven "must-sees" is a romantic idea that is ancient. The first presently known recorded list to reference Seven Wonderments of the World is by the Lebanese-born Greek historian Diodorus Siculus - who lived around 100 BC. He listed the hanging gardens as one of the seven wonders of the world.

In stark contrast to the dry, arid surrounding landscape, the dazzling garden was built in a series of ascending terraces with tall stone columns. The garden featured cascading waterfalls, exotic plants, trees, herbs, flowers, and garden statues.

Pavilion National Monument on the Calton Hill, England, in Memory of Those Fallen in War

Where the breakfast room once was, there is a café, and on the roof, there is an observation platform overlooking Vienna. Sculptures, militaristic decor, and triumphal arches are a concept of the gloriette which is a tribute to war, that brings peace.

In 1755, a marble boat was built as a base to support a wooden Chinese style pavilion. The pavilion is not floating; it is stationary, simply to enjoy the surrounding view. The pavilion marble boat is built over the platform where once stood the Yuanjing Temple of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

It may not look like it from an outward appearance but the Dome of the Rock is said to be an open pavilion, of internal columns supporting a domed roof and glass windows. A stairway leads down to a natural cave beneath the pavilion. This place of worship is built over a rock that is a sacred site to both Muslims and Jews.

Completed in 691–92 CE, the Dome to the Rock is an Islamic shrine on top of the temple mount of the old city of Jerusalem. The dome is constructed of wood covered with gold and said to symbolize Muhammad’s vision of the Seventh Heaven while the octagonal shape beneath the dome is said to represent the earth.

In Jewish tradition, it is here that the Biblical patriarch, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. It is also the direction to which Jews face when they pray.

12-sided Gazebo - Dianatempel in Germany

The Dianatempel of "Diana Temple" in English is more than a beautiful twelve-sided gazebo with eight open and eight closed arcades.

In the summertime and when the weather permits, the Dianatempel is an unofficial meeting place for dancers from all over Munich in Germany. They have an amazing time and a lot of fun kicking up their heels and the pavilion is free to anyone to enjoy. On warm evenings concerts are held and street musicians entertain here.

The gazebo was built in the Renaissance period as a temple to worship the Roman goddess of the hunt, in around 1615. The bronze statue of Hubert Gerhard on the crown of the roof was cast in 1594. Inside the temple are four seashell wall fountains adding to its charm.

The Federation pavilion was built in Sydney, Australia to swear in public officials over the very spot where Australia was officially proclaimed a nation.

Very little is known about The Initiation Well of Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra. The well was supposedly never used for water storage. The spiraling colonnaded pavilion connects to the underground passageways.

There are many ancient writings that tell of garden buildings, pavilions, gazebos, and pergolas. Remnants of their existence also are testaments of their importance. Many of which we may never know the story behind them but they still inspire and intrigue, so are mentioned.

Szczawnica, Poland Wooden Bower Gazebo

Poland is famous for its Orthodox wooden churches, or as the locals call them: Tserkvas. But Poland has many other wooden treasures as well, including stunning wooden bowers.

Shade shelters around the world are called by many different names. In America, a shade shelter is primarily called an arbor, gazebo, pavilion, or pergola, and in some parts: a ramada or cabana.

Pergolas and pavilions can be multi-purposed as a nomad sanctuary shelter designed by architects Dina Haddadin and Rasem Kamal. Their concept for a steel pipe pavilion covered with goat hair is to not only provide a shaded resting place, and protection from the elements to travelers but could provide and store vital drinking water.

Portugal has numerous pergolas and pavilions. The Palace Monserrat in Sintra is an exquisite architecture featuring an attached pavilion with pergolas in the surrounding gardens. Legends say there once was a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 1093 that was also built upon the ruins of an even older chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Monserrate. In the 17th century, it was a farmhouse but in 1755 an earthquake made the home on the farm unlivable. After passing through a few hands, it was purchased by a foreign traveler who worked with an architect to build the Palace Monserrat in 1863.

The Palace Monserrat is now a magical and unique venue where couples book a romantic palace wedding.

Since the beginning of time, people have used shelters, lean to's and covers to protect valuable assests. Pictured below is the a sculpture called the 3 graces and is covered with an ornate pavilion at the Pavlovsky Park in Russia. Covering artworks with gazebos and pavilions is a centuries old practice in many parts of the world.

After collecting the piles of porcelain in their yard over several years, Lianzhi decided to use the porcelain as a facade for his home, attached pavilions, and fencing, and turn it into a museum. Today, the value of the museum can not be determined as there are several thousand pieces of porcelain dating back to the Han Dynasty along with jade stone carvings, ancient ceramic Chinese ships, crystals, and agate. It is said to be priceless. This must-see attraction bringing tourists from all over the world.

Western Timber Frame™ shares Thomas Jefferson's depth of love and passion for beautiful architecture. The company was first founded because Hyrum loved the idea of building the way our ancestors did - wood-to-wood connections - without the use of unsightly hardware, nails or glue. Like Jefferson, he said he dreamed of pergolas in his sleep.

Each ShadeScape® shelter is engineered using timeless-old-world architectural principles, that will last for generations.

At Western, we also have a deep respect and interest in the history and culture surrounding arbors, cabanas, pergolas, pavilions, gazebos, trellises, and anything providing comfort for enjoying nature, and living in the outdoors.