Phipps Conservatory

The conservatory was given to the City of Pittsburgh in 1893 by the steel industrialist Henry Phipps Jr. (1839–1930). Designed by Lord & Burnham for a fee of $100,000 and set in Schenley Park, the glasshouse was begun a year earlier and completed in August 1893 with nine display rooms. It opened to the public on December 7, 1893, stocked with plants from Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition.

It grew quickly. The South Conservatory, originally the Economic Room, was built in 1896–1897; Phipps funded Botany Hall, a teaching building, in 1901; and the Desert Room opened in 1902 as the Cacti House. A gift of 800 rare orchids arrived in 1931, and a second aquatic pool and the Broderie Room followed in 1939. The conservatory was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 1976.

In 1993 management passed from the city to a private nonprofit, with the city keeping ownership. An expansion programme announced in 2003 produced a Welcome Center under a neo-Victorian dome (2005), production greenhouses and the Tropical Forest Conservatory (2006), and the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, which opened in December 2012. The Nature Lab (2015) and the Exhibit Staging Center (2018) added two more net-zero energy buildings.

The historic glasshouse is a fine example of Victorian greenhouse design, admired for its intricate glass and metalwork. Visitors enter through the Palm Court, a Victorian-inspired room, from which the building unfolds in successive wings: the Victoria Room in the east wing, set around a large central pool, links the Broderie Room, the East Room and the Sunken Garden. The conservatory now has fourteen rooms.

The twenty-first-century additions turned Phipps into a testing ground for sustainable building. The 2005 Welcome Center is described as the first LEED-certified visitor centre in a public garden, and the production greenhouses earned LEED Platinum. The 2006 Tropical Forest Conservatory was designed for very low energy use. The Center for Sustainable Landscapes generates all its own energy, treats and reuses the water it captures, and holds Living Building Challenge, LEED Platinum, WELL and SITES certifications, among others.

The historic rooms combine palms in the Palm Court (triangle palm, açaí, flame thrower palm), tropical ferns and gymnosperms in the Fern Room, orchids on show year-round in the Orchid Room, desert plants such as saguaro, Joshua tree and palo verde, and tropical fruit and spice plants. The Barbara Tisherman Slipper Orchid Collection is accredited by the Plant Collections Network. A bonsai collection, both tropical and hardy, and endangered cycads round out the holdings.

The Tropical Forest Conservatory changes region roughly every three years: Thailand (2006), Peru (2009), India (2012), Congo (2015), Cuba (2018), Hawaii (2022) and Panama (2025). The South Conservatory hosts the seasonal flower shows and, since 1999, a garden railroad in autumn and winter. Dale Chihuly glass pieces, acquired after a 2007 exhibition, remain on display throughout the rooms.

Phipps occupies part of Schenley Park, one of Pittsburgh's large city parks. A visit starts in the Welcome Center under its neo-Victorian dome, passes through the Palm Court and follows the historic rooms before reaching the Tropical Forest and the outdoor gardens. Seasonal flower shows in the South Conservatory change the scenery several times a year, with the garden railroad taking over in autumn and winter. The Center for Sustainable Landscapes, planted with species native to the region, is a worthwhile addition for anyone interested in ecological architecture.