The Palm House is the crown jewel of the Franklin Park Conservatory. Designed after the Victorian 1893 Chicago Columbian Floral Exhibition, the Palm House was built in 1895 and is the oldest portion of Franklin Park Conservatory. The plant collection in the Palm House includes 43 species of palms from around the world, some of which are considered endangered and threatened in the wild. A host of beautiful flora complements this outstanding collection. Visitors to the Palm House marvel at the formal tropical ambience of this Victorian structure. A must see when touring the Palm House is the Ficus lyrata, or Fiddle-leaf Fig, because it’s one of the original trees planted in the Palm House, thus making it over 110 years old. Any trip to the Conservatory, or Columbus for that matter, isn’t complete without a tour of the historic Palm House.
