Conservatory Garden

Conservatory Garden is the only formal garden in Central Park, a six-acre walled sanctuary entered through the magnificent Vanderbilt Gate, a wrought-iron gate from the demolished Vanderbilt mansion on Fifth Avenue.

The garden is divided into three sections reflecting distinct European styles: an Italian garden with a central lawn and crabapple allees, a French garden with seasonal plantings surrounding the Untermyer Fountain, and an English garden with a reflecting pool and the beloved Burnett Fountain depicting characters from 'The Secret Garden.'

Unlike the naturalistic design of the rest of Central Park, Conservatory Garden is formally organized with geometric beds, clipped hedges, and symmetrical plantings that create an atmosphere of cultivated elegance unusual in a public park.

The garden occupies the site of a former conservatory (greenhouse) that was demolished in 1934. Robert Moses commissioned the formal garden design as a replacement, and it has been maintained and improved by the Central Park Conservancy since the 1980s.

Conservatory Garden is one of the most beautiful and least visited spaces in Central Park, a secret garden behind its own gates where the formality of European garden design provides a counterpoint to Olmsted and Vaux's artfully wild landscape.