Conservatory Showpiece Of Glass And Plants
Crystal Palace.
The words conjure images of czarist Russia or Louis XIV grandeur. The Bronx does not leap to mind.
Still, the New York Botanical Garden is home to the largest glasshouse in America. Since its $25 million restoration, this palace is nothing to throw stones at.
After being closed to the public for the four years it took for a facelift, the palace, officially the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, reopened recently and she’s been turning heads ever since.
No detail was left untouched.
Each of its 17,000 eyes on the world was lifted and replaced; 52 coats of beauty paint, applied over more than 90 years, were scraped away; and careful craftsman rebuilt architectural ornaments that had been lost over time.
Before the restoration, the conservatory was breathtaking for its size, elegance and dignity, even while it deteriorated.
Today, with its grace restored, almost everyone who enters has the same reaction - they look up, up above the towering palms to the shimmering top of the 90-foot glass dome.
The conservatory hosts more than 3,000 plants, some of them descendants of plants donated for the first opening a century ago.
While retaining the ambience of a bygone age, the conservatory enjoys state-of-the-art computerized climate controls that allow for more diverse exhibits, including vegetation from rain forests and deserts of the Americas and Africa.
“Think of the conservatory as a living museum … the only other way to do all of this would be to take a trip around the world,” according to the self-guided tour available via the Acoustiguide.
An Acoustiguide is a hand-held, cell-phone looking device, that offers information at specific sites throughout the conservatory.
The Botanical Garden is open Tuesday through Sunday and Monday holidays. The hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. April through October, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. November through March.
Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for seniors, students and children, 6-16. Free admission Wednesday and Saturday 10 a.m.-noon. For information call (718) 817-8700.