Conservatory of Flowers: The Victorian Glass Palace

Why is it significant?

Behold the breathtaking Victorian confection of the Conservatory of Flowers, whose gleaming whitewashed woodwork and soaring sixty-foot central dome dominate the rolling Valley of the Flowers.

Key Facts

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Behold the breathtaking Victorian confection of the Conservatory of Flowers, whose gleaming whitewashed woodwork and soaring sixty-foot central dome dominate the rolling Valley of the Flowers. Opened in 1879, this magnificent structure is the oldest public municipal wood-and-glass conservatory in the Western Hemisphere and the oldest municipal building in Golden Gate Park. Fabricated from redwood timbers and delicate glass panes, the building was originally commissioned by wealthy eccentric businessman James Lick, who ordered the prefabricated greenhouse parts from Lord and Burnham in New York, modeled after the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London.

When Lick died in 1876 before assembling the glasshouse on his estate, a group of civic leaders purchased the crated parts and presented them to the City of San Francisco. Skilled carpenters assembled thousands of delicate glass panes like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The conservatory has miraculously survived the 1906 earthquake, devastating windstorms, and a major fire in 1933, standing today as a California Historical Landmark and one of the world's most revered Victorian botanical monuments.

Step onto the terraced parterre gardens out front, which change seasonally with elaborate carpet-bedding floral displays. Inside, five distinct galleries house an extraordinary collection of rare and endangered tropical plants, including carnivorous pitcher plants, giant Amazon water lilies whose pads can support a child's weight, and high-altitude orchids. Every architectural element and surrounding viewpoint bears witness to the extraordinary historical transformations that reshaped San Francisco into an international haven of diversity and expression. Every architectural element and surrounding viewpoint bears witness to the extraordinary historical transformations that reshaped San Francisco into an international haven of diversity and expression.

In the summer of 1967, thousands of young people rested on these very slopes during the Human Be-In and Summer of Love concerts, soaking up the afternoon sunshine amid fragrant blossom beds.

Follow JFK Promenade west past Peacock Meadow and turn slightly south into the colorful Dahlia Dell.