$450,000 federal grant will restore rooms, ponds at Phipps Conservatory
A $ 450,000 grant will allow Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens to restore three historic garden rooms inside its 1893 glasshouse and recycle rainwater from the roof into three outdoor ponds along Schenley Drive, including an aquatic garden with a statue of King Neptune.
The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the matching grant to the Oaklandbased nonprofit on Wednesday.
Slated to start in 2022, the $1.8 million project is the next step in an effort that began 10 years ago to restore the conservatory to how it looked when it was built, said Richard Piacentini, Phipps’ president and CEO.
Plans call for restoring the East Room and the Broderie Room before connecting them, along with the already restored Victoria Room, to the outdoor aquatic garden and two other ponds.
“We have been trying to do at least one room every year,” Mr. Piacentini said, adding that more than $75 million in capital improvements have been completed since 1994, the year he began leading the conservatory.
The Victoria Room was
restoredabout 10 years ago. A large banquet facility for receptions was added in 2006.
Mr. Piacentini said this is the first time in 26 years that Phipps has received a $450,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Phipps must raise an additional $450,000 to receive the grant.
Ten years ago, work began to restore garden rooms and eliminate earlier patchwork renovations, he said.
“A lot of work that had been done in previous renovations changed the historic character of the facility. They put Plexiglass in some of the rooms. We wanted to make sure we did a renovation that would last many generations as opposed to one generation.”
During restoration of the Victoria Room, the city’s historic review commission approved use of extruded aluminum instead of old growth cypress, the original material. Old growth cypress typically lasts about 20 years, depending on its quality and a room’s humidity, Mr. Piacentini said. Extruded aluminum lasts 100 years. Workers also ordered custom-made glass.
“We were able to find some of the historic drawings and go back and matched the original profile of the glass that was done in 1893,” Mr. Piacentini said.
After the Victoria Room, Phipps restored the Gallery, South Conservatory, Tropical Fruit and Spice Room and Bonsai Room in the Japanese Courtyard Garden. This past year, the Stove and Fern rooms were done. Next on the to-do list are the Sunken Garden and the Desert Room.
The restoration reached the 75% completion mark this year, Mr. Piacentini said.
“We are getting very close to completing our original goal, which was to restore the 1893 conservatory and bring it back to the original design” of architects Lord & Burnham.
“We think it’s the best one. After Phipps, they did the New York Botanic Garden and the Buffalo Conservatory in Buffalo, N.Y,” Mr. Piacentini said.
When the Palm Court was restored two years ago, workers reinstalled an important ornament, an arched piece of glass called an ogee. The original was removed in 1938, the year a hail storm destroyed much of the conservatory.
“We put it back on. That was a major commitment to this restoration work,” he said.
"This is important work. It will help preserve the conservatory for at least the next 100 years.”
— Richard Piacentini, Phipps’ president and CEO
Phipps will eventually tie the Victoria, Broderie and East rooms into the outdoor aquatic garden.
“Those three rooms are all next to each other. We want to harvest the rainwater to maintain the water levels in the aquatic gardens,” Mr. Piacentini said.
The three outdoor ponds are used to display tropical waterilies, including the giant Amazonian variety known as the Victoria Lily.
“They are quite beautiful. The leaves could be 4 to 5 feet across. They are an important feature of the conservatory.”
The project will include designing and installing an underground cistern and water filtration system, he said.
“We may have to phase them. It depends on how much money we raise. This is important work. It will help preserve the conservatory for at least the next 100 years.”