"The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, designed by... Albert Kahn, is a greenhouse and botanical garden on Belle Isle that spans 13 acres.
It opened in 1904, and is the nation's oldest conservatory, but fell into disrepair by the time of World War II, and portions of the domed structure closed after the war because they were unsafe. But then, along came... Anna Scripps Whitcomb and her orchids. ... She loved flowers, especially orchids, which filled two greenhouses at her Lake-shore Drive home. Her prized orchids had been displayed every year since 1927 at the Detroit Flower Show. A staff of gardeners maintained the... blooms under master gardener William Crichton's direction. The collection was displayed for a few days every year at the Belle Isle Conservatory... When she died in 1953, she left the entire collection of more than 600 orchid plants to Belle Isle. On April 6, 1955, ... City of Detroit announced that the old domed conservatory would be renamed and dedicated to the memory of Anna Scripps Whitcomb. The facility was rebuilt at a cost of $450,000. All the old wood beams in the glass-domed structure, which had been decaying for 50 years in the moist atmosphere, were replaced by aluminum ones. Thanks to her gift and subsequent donations, the conservatory is now home to one of the largest municipally owned orchid collections in the United States." [how many orchids ?] URL : http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080424/LIFESTYLE/804240417 photo : [caption "Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory(1953)."] http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20080424&Category=LIFESTYLE&ArtNo=804240417&Ref=AR **************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
