South Garden

The South Garden was one of the earliest formalized public gardens in the United States. Its basic plan, designed by Frederick Graff in 1829, has been reconstructed. Around 1830, the Marble Fountain was placed at the center of a series of geometrical paths, and its water rose in the city's tallest spray through pressure from the adjacent Reservoir. Before 1830, the area had been used to store wood for the steam engines. As the Garden matured, it became as celebrated as the nearby neoclassical buildings, with visitors strolling past sculpture, memorials, and benches beneath a tall tree canopy. The Engine House reopened as a restaurant in the 1830s. Stairs led down to the Esplanade, built in 1835 along the riverbank below the Garden.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States