herr2ck: Franklin Park, pt. 1 - “That New Conservatory”

February 2026.

Franklin Park, on the east side of Columbus, gives the eponymous neighborhood its name. It is probably best known for its glassy conservatory, which was undergoing renovations when I visited. The park is actually a lot larger than Columbus’s better-known parks (Schiller Park, Goodale Park, Topiary Park), but it’s pretty out of the way versus the others, which are closer to downtown and more…ahem…gentrified areas.

Franklin Park Conservatory is located at 1777 East Broad Street in the Franklin Park neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. Franklin Park itself is bordered by Broad Street to the north, Franklin Park South (Fair Avenue) to the south, the Big 4 tracks and Bexley to the east, and Franklin Park West (Miller Avenue) to the west. Its south and west sides are bordered by houses, which I cover in a sequel post. Other landmarks nearby include Fair Avenue Elementary, East High School, and East Market.

History

The land that Franklin Park now occupies was purchased in 1852 by the Franklin County Agricultural Society for use as the county and state fairgrounds, eventually expanding to its current 88 acres. Previously, the state fair rotated locations every two years, mostly in larger county seats like Newark, Zanesville, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. Franklin Park began hosting the state fair in 1874 and was used for this purpose until 1885, when it was decided to build the current Ohio State Fairgrounds on the north side of Columbus. In 1886, when the Ohio State Fairgrounds held its first fair, the unused land was approved to become a park by Ohio’s legislature.

Historic photo of the conservatory circa 1897. (Wikimedia)

The Franklin Park Conservatory’s early history cannot be fully known, as important records relating to it were lost in the Columbus City Hall fire of 1921. Sources conflict on when and how exactly it was built in the first place, which is a pretty important detail. The NRHP listing asserts that it was the Glass Palace from the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, relocated to Columbus in 1895. However, most other sources state that it was built in Columbus in 1895 by John M. Freese and simply modeled after the Glass Palace. Nonetheless, based on its classical influence and more so the fact that it is either from or inspired by a world’s fair that exploded the Beaux-Arts movement in popularity, it is a work of Beaux-Arts architecture.

The conservatory was operated by Columbus’s parks department for much of its lifetime. Animals were briefly kept inside from 1927 to 1929, when they were moved to the newly built Columbus Zoo. The conservatory building was used to grow rare and exotic plants from across the world. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Very 1990s photo of AmeriFlora ‘92. (Franklin Park Conservatory website)

Columbus’s AmeriFlora ‘92 exhibition took place in Franklin Park, which added features such as the Cascades to the park, which still remain today. This involved renovation of the Victorian conservatory and the addition of a 58,000 square foot wing to the east, which began construction in 1989. The addition is an example of Postmodern architecture and was designed by NBBJ. After AmeriFlora ended, Ohio’s legislature established the Franklin Park Conservatory Joint Recreation District to manage the conservatory.

More recent modifications to Franklin Park include more additions to the conservatory, which were completed in 2008, and the Community Garden Campus on the southeast side of the park in 2009.

Photos

East facade of the Postmodern addition:

It’s still very glassy, but the mullion pattern is exaggerated and seems more cartoonish than functional. Definitely very Postmodern.

The glass atrium continues outward a bit from the enclosed building behind it:

Also note the grid on top of the building.

One of the 2008 auxiliary greenhouses:

These have a diamond brickwork base and a sharply pitched roof. I was surprised that the clerestories were open when there was snow on the ground.

At this point in time, I’d never been to a Columbus park in the winter. It was definitely much more desolate, and the usual greenery was replaced by barren trees, bright white snow, and blinding sunlight.

The other parks I’ve been to have been in the other seasons--Schiller in summer and fall (my favorite season), Goodale and Topiary in spring.

This view of the conservatory is the best I could really get. As you can tell by all of the debris, there was some sort of restoration work going on.

It definitely is a lovely Victorian conservatory, more eclectic and decorative than functional with its cupola and little towers by the entrance. The curviness of its roofs is interesting, too.

Just west of the conservatory is this Arts & Crafts brick building, which Google Maps tells me is the Espy Adaptive Sports Complex:

It’s very characteristic of the style with its brickwork and overhanging eaves. The windows seem to be boarded up, though.

The west facade has a huge colonnade, which feels even more stretched out with the building’s low stature and shallowly-pitched roofs:

Closer detail of the brickwork and Doric columns:

Also nearby is the Franklin Park Adventure Center, which is one of those weird 1970s-era gyms that is just a giant barrel vault. Ohio State has two of them. This one seems to have been renovated, or maybe I’m just getting the date entirely wrong:

More struggling to get the conservatory from this parking lot here:

Some Postmodern pavilions in the Grand Mallway west of the conservatory:

The park’s amphitheater, which has a wooden pergola supported by stone columns:

Rows of seating blanketed in snow:

Tower of OSU East Hospital from the park:

The park has a water feature on the southwest end like Schiller Park:

The bridge isn’t quite as rustic, though.

Southwest entrance to the park:

I grabbed a few more shots of the park when I came back later that February to see the nearby houses. The snow was mostly melted but had a few dirty piles of slush remaining. Here’s the same water feature:

The waterfalls installed during AmeriFlora, which are picturesque with their stone construction and river plants:

These last couple pictures will cover the Community Garden Campus on the southeast end. The house was built with the rest of the area, but it is a New Traditional revival of a Tudor Revival house:

It gets a surprising amount of details right, such as the brickwork, slate roof, dormers, and half-timbering. I’m impressed.

Straight on:

Entering the actual garden portion:

I really like that the park is making an effort to engage with the community and creating a third space for them to gather. In a time where you can’t really exist anywhere that isn’t work, home, or somewhere you are paying to be, free public amenities such as parks are great assets.

A pavilion with similar brickwork to the house: