page_title: Belle Isle Conservatory
section_title: History and architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Belle Isle Conservatory / History and architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: Horticultural building, Belle Isle, Michigan Subjects: Parks Places: Michigan &gt; Wayne (county) &gt; Detroit Notes: Title from item. Extent: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Accession #: 06_10_014693
context_page_description: The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is a greenhouse and a botanical garden located on Belle Isle, a 982-acre island park located in the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario near the Canada–United States border. The park itself consists of 13 acres of preserved land for the conservatory and its botanical garden.
  Opened in 1904, the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is the oldest continually-running conservatory in the United States. It is named for Anna Scripps Whitcomb, who left her collection of 600 orchids to Detroit in 1955.
context_section_description: The Belle Isle Conservatory, along with the neighboring Belle Isle Aquarium, was designed by the noted firm of George D. Mason and Albert Kahn, and built between 1902 and 1904. Kahn modeled the building after architectural exhibitions and garden pavilions of the mid- to late-nineteenth century, most notably The Crystal Palace and the Palm House at Kew Gardens.
  Located in the center of the 982-acre Belle Isle Park, the conservatory covers 13 acres, with a lily pond on its north side and perennial gardens on the west; the gardens house the Levi L. Barbour Memorial Fountain, designed by sculptor Marshall Fredericks. The Conservatory building is divided into five distinct sections: the Palm house (inside the domed center), the Tropical house (South Wing), the Cactus house and Fernery (North Wing), and the Show house (East Wing). The main feature of the building is the 85 feet (26 m) high central dome, which houses palm trees and other tropical plants.
  The conservatory, originally known as the Horticultural Building, opened on August 18, 1904, and is currently "the oldest, continually operating conservatory in the United States." Soon after its opening, it became a popular attraction, reaching an annual average of 1.5 million visitors in the mid-1920s. In 1953, the original wooden frame of the central dome was replaced by one made of iron and aluminum; the operation cost circa $500,000.
  In April 1955 Anna Scripps Whitcomb gave her 600 orchids collection to the conservatory, which was therefore renamed in her honor on April 6, 1955. Many of these exotic orchids had been saved from Britain throughout World War II. Because of that contribution, the conservatory became "the largest municipally owned orchid collection in the country."
caption: Old postcard of the conservatory, showing the original wooden structure
exif: {}