Our Winter Pleasure Palace
In Minnesota in the winter, there are precious few places where someone can go to satisfy a plant addiction. The jewel in our crown is the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul. It is a fine example of the golden age of the glasshouses that peaked early in this century. I firmly believe that the length of the winter in this region and the human hunger for warmth and growing things has been the driving factor behind the public support for this beautiful facility over the years.
The land for Como Park, that today includes the Conservatory, was purchased by the city of St. Paul in 1872. The glasshouse itself was not begun until after the Park Commissioner allocated $50 to plan a new "greenhouse" and the design was included in the 1914 Bond Issue for park improvements. The new Como Conservatory opened to the public on Nov. 7, 1915. It cost $58,825 to build. In the next few years many changes and improvements were made including the Sunken Garden in the South Wing where the seasonally changing displays are staged about the reflecting pool.
In June of 1962, after a hailstorm took out half the glass in the showhouses and two thirds of the glass in the growing houses, the Conservatory had to be closed for the first time in its history. Emergency repairs were made and it reopened to the public in October. The fiberglass used for replacement glazing at this time forced the beginning of the restoration and renovation project that began in 1980 and continues to this day. The heating and ventilation systems were no longer adequate nor efficient and the wooden and steel structure was rotting and dangerous, but the fiberglass becoming opaque, causing the plants to suffer from lack of light finally brought action.
A planning committee carefully considered the present and future of the Conservatory and, with the approval of the St. Paul Metropolitan Council, a Master Plan for the future was adopted to be completed in stages. Today, most of the major work has been done, but several phases remain to be undertaken in the future. The structure had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, making the Register's restoration guidelines the framework of the plan. The cost of the renovation has been $12,000,000 so far. Much of that was provided by the Minnesota State Legislature, but $1,700,000 of it has come from public sources. Only a handful of such structures remain today, mainly because of the costs of upkeep and renovation, but the citizens of Minnesota obviously find this to be an important part of life in this climate.
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