Garfield Park Conservatory & Sunken Garden

Garfield Park is the oldest city park in Indianapolis. It was renamed after President James A. Garfield soon after his assassination in 1881. In the early twentieth century the landscape architect and city planner George Kessler designed a horticultural ensemble there: a first conservatory and its greenhouses were built in 1915, and the Sunken Garden that accompanied them was dedicated in 1916.

Four decades later this first conservatory was replaced. The new building, constructed in 1954, was designed by the Indianapolis architectural firm Burns and Burns, which chose a welded-aluminium-and-glass structure: according to Wikipedia and the city, it was the first of its kind in the United States.

The conservatory was renovated in 1997. On 28 March 2003 Garfield Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Indianapolis Park and Boulevard System. The Sunken Garden fountains were refurbished in October 2013 at a cost of $1.23 million, with 61 LED lights and 2,500 water jets. In 2019 the neighbouring former children's garden was remodelled as Blake's Garden. The conservatory and Sunken Garden are run today by Indy Parks, the city's parks department.

The 1954 conservatory stands on an all-welded aluminium frame filled with glass and is regarded as the first greenhouse of this type built in the United States. It covers about 10,000 square feet, or some 930 m². Inside, the tropical setting is organised around a 15-foot (4.6 m) granite waterfall, among other water features.

The conservatory opens onto the Sunken Garden designed by George Kessler, a three-acre (1.2 ha) formal garden inspired by classical European gardens. Its walks are paved in brick and lined with benches, and three fountains punctuate the layout. Refurbished in 2013, they are now fitted with 61 LED lights and 2,500 water jets.

The ensemble thus pairs a post-war conservatory, notable for its method of construction, with an early twentieth-century parterre listed, with the park, as part of the city's historic park and boulevard system.

The conservatory displays tropical plants arranged around a rainforest evoking the Amazon basin. It holds a large collection of bromeliads, orchids and other epiphytes, plants that grow attached to other plants, along with several waterfalls, including the large granite cascade. Several horticultural shows are held there over the year.

Outside, the Sunken Garden is replanted three times a year: tulips in spring, thousands of annuals in summer and chrysanthemums in autumn. This seasonal turnover echoes the shows staged in the conservatory. Blake's Garden, laid out in 2019 on the site of the former children's garden, rounds off the horticultural offer.

The conservatory and Sunken Garden lie at the heart of Garfield Park, a 128-acre (52 ha) park, at 2505 Conservatory Drive in Indianapolis. The Sunken Garden is free to enter.

Allow about an hour for the conservatory and garden. Spring, with its tulips, and autumn, the chrysanthemum season, are the most colourful times outdoors, while the conservatory offers a tropical refuge in winter. The horticultural shows held several times a year in the conservatory are a reason to return in different seasons, and the rest of the park invites a walk.