Right through these gates here:
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^It was a lovely entrance and I've never fully agreed with the decision to close it. I understand the need for display, store, and dining space. But how difficult would it be to have a volunteer or two collecting tickets at a second entrance? It still makes me sad that it's glassed in. And it's been, what, forty years now? More or less? *gulp*
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Isn't there a restaurant or cafe in the old entrance?
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It's an event space.KansasCitian wrote: ↑Jan 22, 2021Isn't there a restaurant or cafe in the old entrance?
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Swung by the Botanical Gardens and grabbed some photos of the new visitors center construction:
The inside seems pretty bland. I wonder if they'll make an effort to spruce it up once it's fully complete. It just looks a bit too sterile at this point (exposed beams, basic lights, polished concrete floors, practically nothing on the walls).
^ Yes it’s temporary. It will eventually be converted to a ballroom/meeting center.
https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/ ... a756d.html
https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/ ... a756d.html
I went to the garden last weekend and was surprised to see that they had cut into the Linnean House for a large door (you can see it picture 11/12 in the slideshow from the P-D article above). I would have thought that would be controversial given the building's age and its status as "oldest continuously operated public greenhouse west of the Mississippi River." Maybe it has been altered enough through prior renovations that adding a new entrance to it was not considered significant. Anyone know if this is expected to be a permanent change?
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^That one genuinely hurt a little. I loved the fountain in the center of the building with the mermaid statue. I bet it's permanent. The three other entrances all involve a step, as I recall. The garden has been working hard to make their historic structures ADA accessible. The Linnean House was . . . close. But I think technically non-compliant.
Some renderings I saw online of the new visitor center. Not sure if I've seen the first one or not, the second one I definitely have not seen.
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Also, there are two live feeds if anyone is interested.
North View:
https://oxblue.com/pro/videoRedirect.ph ... f518fbb113
South View:
https://oxblue.com/pro/videoRedirect.ph ... 4ec877a29b
Also, there are two live feeds if anyone is interested.
North View:
https://oxblue.com/pro/videoRedirect.ph ... f518fbb113
South View:
https://oxblue.com/pro/videoRedirect.ph ... 4ec877a29b
Does anyone know why the concrete floors in the event wing, currently used as visitor center, are already cracking so badly? The worst flooring state is in the men’s bathroom.
Does it matter? Will that wing see some sort of underlayment and more permanent flooring material when it is converted to its long term use?
Does it matter? Will that wing see some sort of underlayment and more permanent flooring material when it is converted to its long term use?
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There are two types of concrete: the kind that's cracked, and the kind that will have cracks. But seriously, did you happen to take any pics? There could be many different reasons, but hard to guess without seeing it.
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Really looks massive from what I remember being there prior. Is there a before SF and after SF?
I assume you mean square footage. Ridgeway was 67,000 square feet and was built for roughly 250,000 annual visitors. The Taylor Center will have 90,000 square feet which should accommodate the Garden's roughly 1 million annual visitors of today.
Not much of an increase then. I think the biggest bottleneck was the staircase right behind the entrance. Hope they redo the cafe and let people enter on the side by Flora in the future.sc4mayor wrote: ↑Apr 29, 2022I assume you mean square footage. Ridgeway was 67,000 square feet and was built for roughly 250,000 annual visitors. The Taylor Center will have 90,000 square feet which should accommodate the Garden's roughly 1 million annual visitors of today.
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I get the feeling that they aren't ever going to open up that old Tower Grove Ave entrance ever again.
They want this new Taylor entrance to be the park's front door.
They want this new Taylor entrance to be the park's front door.
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Thanks sc4mayor - that's exactly what I was curious about.
I'd also wager after decades of program changes there was a decent bit of wasted space... and a redesign probably has a lot of more optimized square footage.
I'd also wager after decades of program changes there was a decent bit of wasted space... and a redesign probably has a lot of more optimized square footage.