Botany Greenhouse, Birge Hall (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society record, Birge Hall was built in 1910 as the Biology Building and was named in 1950 for Edward Asahel Birge, a naturalist who studied lakes and served as university president from 1918 to 1925. The architect listed is Arthur Peabody, with Jarvis Hunt of Chicago as adviser. The building contributes to the Bascom Hill Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1974.

The greenhouses have been tied to this building from the start, according to the university. The garden's website speaks of teaching and research "since 1912", and a 2018 CALS News article adds that they were built with the new biology building in 1912, then enlarged in the 1950s to more than 8,000 square feet. The same historic record gives a different timeline: additions to the building in 1913 (a vivarium, by Peabody), 1955 (Law, Law & Potter) and 1961, the date of a greenhouse credited to Karel Yasko.

A 1917 view of the campus already shows Birge Hall and the greenhouses. The neighbouring botanical garden occupies the site of former women's tennis courts; it was remodelled in September 2003 and replanted in 2004. For the greenhouses, the former director thanks the Wisconsin Department of Administration, which agreed to fund a remodelling, along with Howard Design, Ornes Engineering, Bacmann Construction and the manufacturer Ludy Greenhouse Manufacturing, without giving a date. In 2018, according to CALS News, the management installed new shade cloth and was fundraising for air conditioning, which first requires upgrading the building's electrical capacity.

The greenhouses are attached to the main body of Birge Hall, a Neoclassical stone building with a yellow-brick extension. This original choice, called a century-old decision by CALS News, restricts airflow and therefore summer cooling. Access is from inside the building, at level B2. OpenStreetMap draws the greenhouses as a separate volume of about 37 m by 43 m, south of the main block.

The university describes eight rooms divided into 11 climate zones over 8,000 square feet (about 740 m²), each held at its own temperature and humidity. Photographs published by the university in 2020 show a glass roof and ceiling with flowers hanging beneath. A remodelling, funded by the State of Wisconsin, brought together a design firm, an engineering office, a building contractor, an electrician and the greenhouse manufacturer Ludy.

The garden reports more than 1,000 taxa from aquatic, desert and tropical communities; with the outdoor garden, the living collections total 2,300 taxa in 220 families. The university highlights its fern collection. A photo caption also describes aquatics, orchids, succulents and the woody plants used in courses. Photographs published by the university in 2020 show barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii) in the desert room; a Japanese lantern hibiscus (Hibiscus schizopetalus) hangs from the glass ceiling, and the pictures also show a calamondin orange (x Citrofortunella microcarpa), a camellia (Camellia japonica), a Cape honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis) and an azalea. A bog display with bergenia (Bergenia crassifolia), Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula) and a tank of aquatic plants where platies swim complete the circuit. The official website also lists a cycad collection, an indoor koi pond and a submerged aquatic plant bench.

The greenhouse is tucked inside Birge Hall: visitors enter by the main doors, then follow the signs down to level B2; the university speaks of winding halls and stairways. It is open to the public only on weekdays, and a 2020 article suggests leaving a coat on the rack at the entrance, as the warmth makes it unnecessary. Request forms allow groups to book a self-guided or guided visit.

The Botany Garden, about 1.3 acres, lies just outside and is open from dawn to dusk; it is arranged by the APG IV molecular classification. Another set of campus greenhouses, the D.C. Smith Greenhouse, is also listed as open to the public on weekdays by the university's sustainability office.