Cylburn Arboretum

Summary

Cylburn Arboretum [pronounced Sill·burn arr·burr·EE·tum] is a city park with arboretum and gardens, located at 4915 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland. It is open daily – excluding Mondays – without charge.

Cylburn House and Park District
Cylburn Mansion
Cylburn Arboretum is located in Baltimore
Cylburn Arboretum
Location4915 Greenspring Ave., Baltimore, Maryland
Coordinates39°21′9″N 76°39′10″W / 39.35250°N 76.65278°W / 39.35250; -76.65278
Area207 acres (84 ha)
Built1863
ArchitectGeorge A. Frederick
Architectural styleRenaissance
NRHP reference No.72001493[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 04, 1972
Designated BCL1975

The arboretum began as the private estate of businessman Jesse Tyson, who started construction of Cylburn Mansion in 1863. The house, designed by Baltimore City Hall architect George Aloysius Frederick, was eventually completed in 1888 and remains intact, a stone structure built of gneiss from Tyson's quarries at Bare Hills, with mansard roof, tower, and an Italianate cupola. It became the Cylburn Wildflower Preserve and Garden Center in 1954 and, in 1982, was renamed the Cylburn Arboretum Association.[2]

The Cylburn Mansion houses a display of watercolor paintings of Maryland wildflowers that is open to the public.

Today the arboretum contains an extensive collection of trees and woody shrubs based loosely on the Tysons' original plantings. Collections include azaleas, bamboo, beeches, boxwoods, chestnuts, conifers, hollies, Japanese maples, magnolias, maples, Maryland oaks, and viburnum.

The arboretum also includes a number of flower and vegetable gardens, as well as greenhouses designed and built in the 1960s by Lord & Burnham. The greenhouses grow plants for the city's parks, and are not open to the general public.

The arboretum is included in the Baltimore National Heritage Area.[3]

It was used as a filming location for "Final Grades", a 2006 episode of The Wire, in which Bodie Broadus and Jimmy McNulty have a conversation in the park.[4][5]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ Mrs. Preston Parish (December 1971). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Cylburn House and Park District" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  3. ^ "Baltimore National Heritage Area Map" (PDF). City of Baltimore. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 22, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
  4. ^ Vint, Sherryl (March 15, 2013). The Wire. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0814335932 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Dillon, Karen; Crummey, Naomi (March 18, 2015). The Wire in the College Classroom: Pedagogical Approaches in the Humanities. McFarland. ISBN 9780786495283 – via Google Books.

External links edit

  • Cylburn Arboretum Association
  • George A Frederick website
  • Cylburn House and Park District, Baltimore City, including photo from 2006, at Maryland Historical Trust