Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

The conservatory's centerpiece is a historic glasshouse in the ornate Victorian style, first built in the 1890s during the era when grand glass conservatories were symbols of civic pride. It was inspired by the great glass palaces of the world's fairs of that period, and it has anchored Franklin Park through more than a century of the city's growth.

The park around it hosted a major horticultural exposition in the 1990s, an event that spurred a renovation and expansion of the conservatory and left behind gardens and structures that the institution still uses. That history of exhibitions and fairs is fitting for a place built to show off the beauty of the plant world.

Inside, the glasshouse is divided into distinct biomes. A tropical rainforest room drips with humidity and dense foliage, a desert room holds cacti and succulents under bright dry light, and a Pacific island water garden and a soaring palm house each carry visitors into another climate, all within a short walk under glass.

The plant collections are serious as well as beautiful, used for education and conservation, and seasonal displays keep the glasshouse changing through the year. In warmer months a popular butterfly exhibit fills a room with free-flying butterflies, a favorite with children and photographers alike.

The conservatory holds one of the largest permanent collections of Dale Chihuly glass art in a botanical setting. Chihuly, one of the most famous glass artists in the world, creates sweeping, organic sculptures in vivid color, and here they are placed right among the living plants, echoing the shapes of flowers, reeds, and vines.

The pairing is the conservatory's signature. A glass sun bursts against the glasshouse ceiling, glass forms rise from the pools and beds, and the interplay of light through both glass and leaf makes the collection feel as though it grew there. The relationship began with a special exhibition and proved so beloved that much of the work stayed for good.

The conservatory sits within Franklin Park, a historic public green space on the east side of Columbus that has served the city's neighborhoods for generations. Beyond the glasshouse, the grounds hold themed outdoor gardens, a community garden campus that teaches urban growing, and open parkland.

This land is part of the ancestral homeland of the Shawnee, Wyandot, Lenape (Delaware), and Miami peoples, who lived across central Ohio before being forced westward in the nineteenth century, and whose descendant nations continue today, largely in Oklahoma. Columbus, the state capital, surrounds the park with museums, campuses, and a lively downtown a short drive to the west.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.