The program: Haydn Quartet followed by a Brahms Sextet (Temescal Quartet members Barbara Riccardi, Katherine Button, Jonna Hervig and Ruth Lane will be joined by Victoria Ehrlich and Valerie Tisdel).

Concert co-sponsored by the Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory and the SF Recreation and Park Department

Thank you to Temescal for again donating their performance as part of our Live @ the Conservatory Concert Series. A special shout out to Sally Ross for her efforts in making this concert happen.

Listen to Temescal’s first concert at the Conservatory.

www.temescalquartet.com

Temescal String Quartet.

Featured Project: Conservatory Median Project.  Enjoying the eye-candy in front of the Conservatory (200 block of Monterey between Baden + Congo).  We are indebted to Friend Andrea O’Leary for the vision and determination to beautify and maintain the Conservatory Median. Median Plantings include euphorbia, carex, phormium (flax), and a few aeonium.   Funding + Partners: DPW.

Learn more about the colorful history of the Conservatory. Curious about our custom paint palette?

Project: City + County of SF Recreation and Park Department Capital Improvements Division, and Department of Public Works. Funded by General Fund Supplemental Appropriation and Neighborhood Parks Bond. Contractor: BCCI.

Design: CCSF Department of Public Works Bureau of Architecture and Bureau of Engineering Landscape Architecture, Mechanical and Electrical Sections. Project Manager: Paulina Araica, San Francisco RPD. Architect: Andrew Maloney, Bureau of Architecture. Landscape Architect: Edward Chin, DPW. Pro-Bono Landscape Architect: Vera Gates, Arterra, San Francisco. Consultant/Palm Specialist: Kenneth Allen. Jason Dewees from Flora Grubb Gardens. Public Art Component, “Sunnyside Menagerie,” artist-team Wowhaus. Public Art Competition under San Francisco Arts Commission, Judy Moran, Senior Project Manager. Back Gate Design and Fabrication, neighbor Mary Revelli (1-Off designs), funded by San Francisco Beautiful. Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory Co-chairs since 1999: Arnold Levine and Stacy Garfinkel. Photography: Bill Wilson.

Budget: $4.2M including $2.8M for construction cost and $1.4M for project control consisting of project management, planning, design, permits and reviews by regulatory agencies and construction management fees.

Photo: Becky Burgin, Art of Emotion Wedding Photography.

William Augustus Merralls, a British engineer and inventor, built this Victorian oasis next to his home on an old dairy farm, in the new Sunnyside District in 1898. Merralls’s original vision was to gather up exotic treasures for his own private delight.  His home (now 258 Monterey) still stands today.  A serial entrepreneur, Merralls made his money in the invention and sale of power mining equipment; he also had shipping interests and shopped proposals for flying engines.

The octagonal Conservatory originally had two wings and was set within a carriage turn around. Key architectural features in the restored Conservatory include: original skylights (daylighted during renovation), bentwood truss arches, glazed concrete floor that mimics original planting areas, double-glazed, double-height row of operable windows, and interior trimmed out in salvaged old growth redwood from Sonoma.

Merralls not only wanted to gather up rare earthly plant specimens for his private delight; he also wanted bring celestial wonders closer to home in his companion Observatory. A Historical Interpretive Exhibit greets visitors as they pass through the Conservatory’s porte-cochere.

The story of the Restoration interweaves the Friends’ decade of advocacy with the Merralls’s original vision.

Sunnyside Conservatory West Elevation. Architectural Drawing by Andrew Maloney.

Project: City + County of SF Recreation and Park Department Capital Improvements Division, and Department of Public Works. Funded by General Fund Supplemental Appropriation and Neighborhood Parks Bond. Contractor: BCCI.

Design: CCSF Department of Public Works Bureau of Architecture and Bureau of Engineering Landscape Architecture, Mechanical and Electrical Sections. Project Manager: Paulina Araica, San Francisco RPD. Architect: Andrew Maloney, Bureau of Architecture. Landscape Architect: Edward Chin, DPW. Pro-Bono Landscape Architect: Vera Gates, Arterra, San Francisco. Consultant/Palm Specialist: Kenneth Allen. Jason Dewees from Flora Grubb Gardens. Public Art Component, “Sunnyside Menagerie,” artist-team Wowhaus. Public Art Competition under San Francisco Arts Commission, Judy Moran, Senior Project Manager. Back Gate Design and Fabrication, neighbor Mary Revelli (1-Off designs), funded by San Francisco Beautiful. Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory Co-chairs since 1999: Arnold Levine and Stacy Garfinkel. Photography: Bill Wilson.

Budget: $4.2M including $2.8M for construction cost and $1.4M for project control consisting of project management, planning, design, permits and reviews by regulatory agencies and construction management fees.

Sunday, October 28, 2012. 2 pm-4 pm, Free

Bring-Your-Own-Pumpkin. Pumpkin carving kits and tools, including tools for older children, will be provided. Parents must supervise and accept responsibility for pumpkin carving with children.

Historic Chilean wine, Canary Island date, and Chinese windmill palms grace the exquisite Conservatory Garden. Jason Dewees of the Palm Broker @ Flora Grubb wrote a wonderful blog post about the Conservatory’s historic palm grove.

Shout-outs are in order to principal guardian angels of the Garden. San Francisco’s own Vera Gates, Landscape Architect/Principal, Arterra, llp, served as pro-bono landscape architect on the Conservatory restoration project, from 2000 – 2010.  We are indebted to her elegant eye, inventiveness, persistence, and willingness to teach us about large concepts and mundane details of landscape design.  Vera hand drew the original conceptual plan (approved by the Recreation and Park Commission, 2002) and then guided the Friends through the creation of the Construction documents.  We are also grateful to Edward Chin, official Project Landscape Architect, for his willingness to help us realize our vision and his patience to always find the best design solution. For over two decades, famed arborist and local neighbor Ted Kipping and his crew cared on their own for the garden—planting, pruning, and watering.  The Conservatory palms would never have survived without his care taking during the long, lean years. Thank you Ted.

Historic Palms Visible in a Print from a Glass Plate Negative (c. 1919) discovered in the attic of Merralls’s home.

The Next Generation of Palms

Jason Dewees of the Palm Broker consulted with project landscape architect Edward Chin, selecting the next generation of palms planted on the Conservatory Grounds.

The new pindo palm chosen to sit to the east in the front of the Conservatory building was selected to echo the pindo palm that did not survive transplantation from the interior of the building outdoors.  You’ll also find a new group of palms located where the stone-pavers end at base of back stairs.  Imagine the grandeur of these new transplants one-hundred years from now. Really Like Palms? Here’s a link to the Bay Area Palm Map Bay Area Palm Map (including the Conservatory), prepared by Jason.

Coming soon… Slider of garden.

Find out about a Friends’ Docent-Led Tour of the Conservatory and Gardens.

Coming Soon!  Download Mp3 Audio Tour for a self-guided tour of Conservatory and grounds.

Note: No dogs allowed in Conservatory or on grounds per SFRPD ordinance.

Featured Post Photo Credit: Jenifer Lake.

We’re thrilled with our Menagerie in the Conservatory garden.  When the Friends asked for “inventive delights” and “wonder, whimsy, and the stubbornly quirky and daring,” Wowhaus understood us.  It was a joy to work with Scott + Ene during the process. Visitors always comment on the “fabulous,” “wonderfully odd,” “weird and groovy” sculptures, and the “elegant” design choices.

Sunnyside Menagerie is a collection of 23 fantastical bronze creatures designed by the artist team of Wowhaus. Commissioned by the SFAC’s Public Art Program specifically for the 1898 Sunnyside Conservatory and Gardens, the suite of sculptures was inspired by the Victorian notion of a conservatory as a living cabinet of curiosities filled with rare flora and fauna that hint at the possibility of still unknown worlds. The textured artworks, each with an intricately carved skin, are nestled at various locations along the walkways and in the garden to be discovered and handled by visitors of all ages as they wander the grounds.

Here’s an account of the Menagerie’s creation by artists Scott Constable + Ene Osteras-Constable.

Ene Osteras-Constable and Scott Constable at Opening.

Featured Post Photo of Menagerie Creature: Bobby Chin

Horns A Plenty, a 5 piece brass ensemble, is re-defining what it is to be a brass quintet. They play swing, jazz, Dixieland, classical music, fanfares, 19th century Americana, wedding favorites, love songs and ballads. They have one foot in JS Bach and the other in Duke Ellington, with plenty of brass in between.

Concert @ 7:15, Door Open at 6:50   For more info about the group: http://www.hornsaplenty.org/

$10 Suggested Donation. Light Refreshments at Intermission.

Travis Wernet, aka Outlaw Dervish, opened with an energetic, meditative solo didgeridoo set, drawing on Australian Aboriginal musical traditions in a contemporary fashion.  Thanks to our wonderful musicians and the great crowd that turned out.

Friday, November 4, 2011, Concert @ 7:00 pm, Doors Open @ 6:00. Suggested Donation $15-20. Tickets at the Door. Part of our Live @ the Conservatory Concert Series.

If you missed the concert, you can still check out their fabulous music!

Listen to Eliyahu on his most recent CD.

Listen to Travis on his new CD.

Concert is co-sponsored by Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory and San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.  All proceeds benefit future art, music, and community programming at the Conservatory.

Eliyahu Sills on Middle Eastern Flute

Travis Wernet on Didgeridoo