Stephen Sinon is Head of Information Services and Archives in the New York Botanical Garden’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library.
Sample of plans from the Lord & Burnham Co. collection
The Lord and Burnham Co. was the premier builder of glasshouses in 19th- and 20th-century America. The firm was a natural choice for the founders of The New York Botanical Garden to turn to as they commissioned the design and construction of the largest and finest conservatory in America, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, which remains the centerpiece of the Garden today. Lord and Burnham constructed glasshouses for many well-known private clients, schools, parks, and botanical gardens across the country, but they never built anything larger than the Haupt Conservatory, which features a 90-foot central dome and one acre under glass.
The original plans and drawings for the Haupt Conservatory can be found in the Garden Archives along with architectural plans for 140,000 other clients which form part of the surviving business records of the Lord and Burnham Co.
The colors of FRIDA KAHLO in the Conservatory, more than just bombastic oranges, yellows, and reds, are also met with soft pinks and greens, creating beautiful contrast throughout the display.
Crinum ‘Mexican Pink’ in the Haupt Conservatory – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
The passion flowers growing around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory—both inside and out—are consistently some of the most fascinating blooms to join us in summer. But their frizzy, tentacled forms are surprisingly commonplace in many tropical climates, where they’re often hybridized or cultivated for their flowers and fruit.
Passion flower (Passiflora) in the Haupt Conservatory Courtyard – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
My office is situated in a most advantageous location adjacent to the ever-changing exhibition houses, my beloved desert houses, and steps from the breathtaking courtyard pools brimming with flowering lotus and water lilies. Voltaire might say “it is the best of all possible worlds.” Directly outside my door hang several beautiful specimens of Staghorn Fern (Platycerium sp.) As I sit at the computer, I am delighted by the amazed exclamations these plants elicit—so much so I feel compelled to write this post in hopes of answering the many wonderful questions visitors seem to have.
For the most part, patrons agree that the plant appears otherworldly. “It looks like some type of alien!” is a commonly overheard remark. I completely understand the sentiment, but these plants are most certainly of this world—found throughout the tropics and subtropics from the Philippines and Australia to Madagascar, Africa, and South America, to be exact. The way they grow in habitat and the unique way we display them in the Conservatory certainly present an unusual spectacle.
Premiering tonight, Wednesday, June 10, an incredible live presentation by internationally renowned artist Jenny Holzer will take place at the Garden—and we hope you’ll join us for the opportunity to experience it! For four consecutive nights during our Frida al Fresco evenings, Jenny Holzer in conjunction with The Poetry Society of America and The New York Botanical Garden will present a program of scrolling light projections on the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
For more than 30 years Jenny Holzer has presented her astringent ideas, arguments, and sorrows in public places and international exhibitions. Her medium is always writing, and the public dimension is integral to the delivery of the work. Reflecting Kahlo’s intense relationship with her culture and the natural world, Holzer’s hour-long presentation will include poems by Mexico’s Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz, verses from contemporary Mexican female poets, and even a selection of powerful passages from Frida Kahlo’s own diary.
