Archive for the ‘History’ Category
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Interior
Light floods the interior of the Conservatory, trimmed in salvaged old growth redwood. A custom ringed chandelier is an unforgettable signature element. The solid wood wall in the interior used to lead to the east wing of the Conservatory, demolished in 1978 when a permit was given in error. The Conservatory is officially San Francisco Historical Landmark #78.
Here’s a one-minute video featuring the interior of the Conservatory on Opening Day (to view on a mobile phone, click here). Video … Read More
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Finial
Soon after the Friends organized, neighbor Roger Pacheco told us he had been given the old finial for safe keeping some twenty years ago when the Conservatory underwent a much smaller set of stabilization repairs. He had been using it as a doorstop in his garage. We were able to have the old finial replicated in new wood and covered in copper. A brave man scaled the exterior and gently set the new finial in place in October 2009.… Read More
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Observatory
Merralls not only wanted to gather up rare earthly plant specimens for his private delight; he also wanted bring celestial wonders closer to home. Look up—way-up—over the west fence of the Conservatory property and you can see the “water-tower” base of what one once Merralls’s Observatory. Loyal Friend + Conservatory neighbor Chester Hartsough, who lives in Merralls’s original home, found as a child two glass negatives of the Conservatory and Observatory in his attic. The photo of the path … Read More
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Our 2011 San Francisco Beautiful Award
On the evening of Friday, October 14, 2011 at its annual awards gala at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco Beautiful honored the Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory with a prestigious 2011 Beautification Award.
Sunnyside Conservatory was selected as one of four exemplary new projects contributing to San Francisco’s unique beauty and livability. The evening was entitled, “Together for San Francisco: A Masquerade Soiree, and Stacy Garfinkel and Arnold Levine accepted the award on behalf of the Friends.
For over 60 years, San … Read More
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Architectural Gems
We are grateful to Andrew Maloney, project architect, for his care in preserving (and recovering) the architectural gems of the Conservatory building: daylighting the original skylights that had been covered over, highlighting the original bentwood trusses, sourcing salvaged old-growth redwood to trim out the interior and then staining it in a clear varnish to feature its beauty, designing a floor that echoed the old interior planting beds of the Conservatory, and working with the Friends to find the right exterior … Read More
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Audio Tour
One of our projects for 2012–a downloadable MP3 file to enjoy a self-guided audio tour of the Conservatory garden, history, and building.
Featured Post Photo: Dano on Flickr via Creative Commons License.… Read More
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