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| Bloedel Floral Conservatory | |
|---|---|
 The Bloedel Floral Conservatory | |
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| 49°14′32″N123°06′50″W / 49.2421°N 123.1138°W | |
| Date opened | 1969 [1] |
| Location | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| No. of animals | 100 birds [2] |
| No. of species | 500 plant species [2] |
| Website | vancouver |
The Bloedel Floral Conservatory is a conservatory and aviary located at the top of Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Leading up to the national centennial in 1967, communities and organizations across Canada were encouraged to engage in centennial projects to celebrate the country's 100th anniversary. The projects ranged from special one-time events to local improvement projects. In Vancouver, Stuart Lefeaux, superintendent of the Vancouver Park Board, and his deputy Bill Livingstone proposed the Bloedel Floral Conservatory. Their vision was to build a conservatory for exotic plants that would be both educational and a good place for families to go.
Building a conservatory on top of Queen Elizabeth Park's Little Mountain was a complicated project. The city had already leased the top of the mountain to the Greater Vancouver Water Board and they had built a 5+1⁄2-acre open water reservoir for the city's potable water supply. A concrete lid was constructed in 1965 to cover the reservoir, but approval was needed to build the conservatory's surrounding plaza on top of the cover. The project was not to detract from the natural beauty of the site, nor to jeopardize the quality of the potable water supply in the reservoir. Climates had to be simulated for temperate, tropical and arid areas in the botanical displays inside the conservatory, and the project was not to exceed the budget. Giving the immense concrete plaza over the reservoir an attractive garden atmosphere meant working within rigid and expensive water board restrictions. [3] These challenges were overcome, and the conservatory was constructed next to this reservoir, which remains a major source of water for the city today.
Philanthropy from extraction companies was at an all-time high during the 1960s, so Lefeux and Livingstone looked for a way to get the project funded. They approached Prentice Bloedel of the Macmillan Bloedel Lumber Company. The Bloedel Foundation put forward $1.25 million in conjunction with contributions by the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation to build the Bloedel Conservatory, the Dancing Fountains and the surrounding plaza. This gift was the largest the city of Vancouver had received to that date.
Architect McKinley Underwood designed the triodetic dome – an avant-garde structure inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s iconic Expo ’67 dome in Montreal. The triodetic dome frame was manufactured entirely in Ottawa and shipped 3,000 miles across the country to Queen Elizabeth Park. Once it arrived, the structural framework was erected in just 10 days. The entire dome and plaza took 18 months to complete. The grand opening of the conservatory took place to much fanfare on December 6, 1969, and hosted over 500,000 people in its first year of operation. Prentice and his wife Virginia, both avid art collectors, also donated the monumental bronze sculpture 'Knife Edge - Two Piece' by famed artist Henry Moore.
In November 2009, facing a budget shortfall, the Vancouver Park Board voted in favour of closing the conservatory, citing the approximately $240,000 CDN annual operating budget, the need for a roof replacement as well as other major capital costs as reasons for the decision. [4] [5] The closure was to take effect on March 1, 2010, just after Vancouver had finished hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. [6] In response to the decision, several groups formed in order to lobby both the board and city council. [5]
In early January 2010, a commissioner reported that attendance numbers had increased in December 2009 when compared to December 2008, following the completion of construction projects at the adjacent reservoir on Little Mountain and along Cambie Street. [7] By the end of January, the Friends of the Bloedel Association had helped raise $80,000, and were projecting $250,000 by the proposed March closure. [1] In late February, the park board voted to keep the facility open and asked for proposals on running it. [8]
On April 29, 2010, the Friends of the Bloedel Association and VanDusen Botanical Garden Association submitted a proposal to the Vancouver Park Board to run the Bloedel Conservatory as part of the VanDusen Botanical Gardens, [6] [9] [10] and the conservatory remained open. [11] At least one other proposal was received, [12] but the joint proposal of the Friends of the Bloedel and the Association was approved by the Services and Budgets Committee of the Vancouver Park Board on July 20, 2010, [13] [14] and unanimously approved by the full Park Board on September 20, 2010. [15] On May 29, 2013, the Friends of the Bloedel won the City of Vancouver Heritage Commission Award of Honour, which "denotes an outstanding contribution to heritage conservation in the City of Vancouver and recognises the advocacy and successful efforts to save and revitalize landmark sites". The VanDusen Botanical Garden Association later changed their name to the Vancouver Botanical Gardens Association to reflect the additional management of Bloedel Conservatory.
The conservatory contains three habitats: tropical rainforest, subtropical rainforest, and desert. [16] Over 200 birds of various species live in the dome, and tropical fish of several species. In addition, The Bloedel Floral Conservatory dome houses approximately 500 species of plants. [2]
Located 500 feet (150 m) above sea level, the conservatory itself is a triodetic dome 140 feet (43 m) in diameter, 70 feet (21 m) high, and is made up of 1,490 plexiglass bubbles of different sizes and 2,324 pieces of extruded aluminum tubing. It contains 8 air circulating units and 24 mist sprayers to control temperature and humidity for the three climate zones inside the dome. [17]
In the plaza adjacent to the conservatory dome is a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65 . It was donated to the Park Board by modern art collector Prentice Bloedel and his wife Virginia, alongside their donation of funding to build the conservatory, and the surrounding plaza. The piece was the first non-commemorative sculpture accepted by the Vancouver Park Board for installation. [17]
The conservatory has been used as a filming location for several movies and science fiction series including G-Saviour , Battlestar Galactica , Stargate SG-1 , [18] Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda [19] and Beyond the Black Rainbow . Filming of a scene from episode 21, Season 3 of Supergirl also took place here.
The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million specimens, is the second largest in North America, behind that of the New York Botanical Garden. The Index Herbariorum code assigned to the herbarium is MO and it is used when citing housed specimens.
The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a 250-acre (100 ha) site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a greenhouse containing several habitats; and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, which contains one of the world's largest collections of botany-related texts. As of 2016, over a million people visit the New York Botanical Garden annually.
A conservatory is a building or room having glass or other transparent roofing and walls, used as a greenhouse or a sunroom. Usually it refers to a space attached to a conventional building such as a house, especially in the United Kingdom. Elsewhere, especially in America, it can often refer to a large freestanding glass-walled building in a botanic garden or park, sometimes also called a palm house if tall enough for trees. Municipal conservatories became popular in the early 19th century.
VanDusen Botanical Garden is a botanical garden situated in Vancouver, British Columbia, in the Shaughnessy neighborhood. It is located at the northwest corner of 37th Avenue and Oak Street. It is named for local lumberman and philanthropist Whitford Julian VanDusen.
Queen Elizabeth Park is a 130-acre municipal park located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located on top of Little Mountain approximately 125 metres (410 ft) above sea level and is the location of former basalt quarries dug in the beginning of the twentieth century to provide materials for roads in the city.
The Conservatory of Flowers is a greenhouse and botanical garden that houses a collection of rare and exotic plants in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. With construction having been completed in 1879, it is the oldest building in the park. It was one of the first municipal conservatories constructed in the United States and is the oldest remaining municipal wooden conservatory in the country. For these distinctions and for its associated historical, architectural, and engineering merits, the Conservatory of Flowers is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Places. It is a California Historical Landmark and a San Francisco Designated Landmark.
The Potawatomi Conservatories is a set of three indoor conservatories and botanical gardens in South Bend, Indiana, in the United States: The Ella Morris Conservatory; the Muessel-Ellison Botanical Conservatory, and the Muessel-Ellison Desert Dome.
Myriad Botanical Gardens is a 15-acre botanical garden in Oklahoma City’s downtown district, offering visitors seasonal activities such as bulb displays, concerts, movies, classes, and annual children’s festivals. Visitors can also explore the Inasmuch Foundation Crystal Bridge Conservatory, which features exterior grounds that are free to roam and observe.
Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory is a conservatory located at Mitchell Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is owned and operated by the Milwaukee County Park System, and replaced the original Milwaukee Conservatory which stood from 1898 to 1955. The three domes display a large variety of plant life.
The Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning 101 hectares in the Central Region of Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden. The largest of the gardens is the Bay South Garden at 54 hectares designed by Grant Associates. Its Flower Dome is the largest glass greenhouse in the world.
The Irwin M. Krohn Conservatory is a conservatory located in Eden Park within Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States.
Little Mountain, elevation 125 m (410 ft), is a mountain in the central part of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The mountain is home to Queen Elizabeth Park, which sits at the top of the mountain, and Nat Bailey Stadium, which is located near the base. The mountain lends its name to the Riley Park–Little Mountain neighbourhood, and to the defunct electoral district, Vancouver-Little Mountain.
Vanier Park is a municipal park located in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, created in 1967. It is home to the Museum of Vancouver, the Vancouver Maritime Museum, the City of Vancouver Archives, and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. It is also the site of the ancestral Squamish settlement of Sen̓áḵw
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, commonly referred to as the Vancouver Park Board, is the elected board with exclusive possession, jurisdiction and control over public parks in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Southport Botanic Gardens is a botanical garden situated in the suburban village of Churchtown, Southport, in Merseyside, England. It is often called "The Jewel in the Crown" as it is nationally known for its floral displays, which have been featured in the BBC TV program Gardener's World.
The Jewel Box is a greenhouse located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri at the intersection of Wells and McKinley Drives. It now serves as a public horticultural facility and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is a greenhouse and a botanical garden located on Belle Isle, a 982-acre (397-hectare) island park located on the Detroit River within Detroit, Michigan. While located near the Canada–United States border, the island is entirely within the U.S. The park itself consists of 13 acres of preserved land for the conservatory and its botanical garden.
A Triodetic dome is a type of geodesic dome whose space frame is constructed using Triodetic connectors, invented in 1955 by the Canadian Arthur E. Fentiman.
Peter Busby is an architect and Managing Director at Perkins & Will Architects, with a background in philosophy and a history of advancing sustainable design. Throughout his career, he has advocated for sustainable building strategies and integrated green building infrastructure that serves to educate the users of his spaces.
May 2010: The Bloedel Conservatory is open for business with regular operating hours. In light of recent budget constraints the Park Board has received proposals from interested proponents for business cases or concept plans for the future use of the conservatory. The proposals are currently under review by staff. In the meantime the conservatory, as well as the Stanley Park Children's Farmyard, will remain open.
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