W. W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory (Wright Park)

The conservatory bears the name of William Wolcott Seymour, a Tacoma park commissioner who served as president of the park board from 1909 to 1911. In 1906 he gave the city 10,000 dollars, to be used as it saw fit to beautify Tacoma; according to the Tacoma Daily Ledger of 1 November 1908, the park board voted to spend it on a conservatory. The design was entrusted to the local architect Isaac J. Knapp. Wikipedia dates construction to 1907, while the park authority gives 1908 as the opening year.

The building stands in Wright Park, a park of about 27 acres (11 ha) laid out on land donated by Charles Barstow Wright and designed by the Bavarian landscape architect Edward Otto Schwagerl. Park and conservatory are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (entered on 8 October 1976) and on the city and Washington State heritage registers. In 1992 the conservatory served as a location for the film The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

A rehabilitation funded by a bond approved by voters in 2014 was completed in 2022: about 2.7 million dollars for a new boiler, heating tubes, venting window panes, a living wall and a frog habitat. The conservatory reopened in May 2022. The project, designed by SHKS Architects and given a citation by the AIA Washington Council that year, is part of a multi-phase programme intended to more than triple the size of the institution.

The conservatory follows the Victorian model: a twelve-sided central dome framed by two wings, glazed throughout. Sources give different pane counts, about 3,000 according to the park authority and some 3,500 according to Wikipedia. The building is regularly described as one of only three conservatories of this style on the West Coast of the United States.

The recent rehabilitation addressed the lateral stability of the structure, the envelope, interior partitions, heating, ventilation, plumbing, controls and lighting, as well as green walls and rock walls. An initial phase added accessible restrooms and storage on the main floor.

On the west side, an addition forms a glass vestibule of contemporary construction: large, low-sloped insulated glass panels are fixed to a custom welded steel frame with toggle clips and structural sealant. A steel grid trains climbing plants across it, so that the facade itself becomes a botanical display.

The permanent collection numbers more than 550 species. It includes agapanthus, azaleas, bromeliads, cacti, clivias, cymbidiums, epiphyllums, ferns, figs, palms and rhododendrons, as well as more than 200 orchids. A Ponderosa lemon tree is said to be one of the oldest residents of the house. Since the renovation, a living wall, a poison dart frog habitat and a koi pond complete the displays.

Rotating floral shows generally feature 300 to 500 plants in bloom at any one time, so the rooms change appearance through the year. The conservatory also holds six sculptures by Clarence Deming inspired by African, Māori and Aztec traditions.

The conservatory stands at 316 South G Street, on the eastern edge of Wright Park, between downtown Tacoma and the Hilltop neighbourhood. About an hour is enough to walk through the dome and wings, lingering over the orchids and the current floral display, which changes with the seasons.

The visit continues naturally in the park itself, which covers some ten city blocks between Division Avenue and Sixth Avenue: its arboretum has more than 700 mature trees representing about a hundred native and exotic species.