Notice that fencing and activity in Tacoma’s Wright Park? Here’s what’s happening
Visitors of Wright Park in Tacoma might have noticed a chain-link fence circling the W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory.
Construction crews installed the fence this week as they begin work on a months-long renovation of the 100-year-old conservatory at 316 South G St., which will be closed to the public through the end of 2021.
The domed conservatory, home to more than 250 species of tropical plants, a constant revolving display of other plants and several friendly pond fish, will be getting new infrastructure and amenities, with the hope of adding years to its lifespan. Metro Parks executed a contract with Pease Construction in March totaling about $2 million, funded through bond dollars and a State Heritage Grant.
Improvements will include new heating, plumbing and electrical systems and new interior walls.
“The main goals are to provide seismic upgrades to brace the structure, better preserve it and to hopefully make it withstand anything that might be coming in the near future,” said Jason Sousie, Pease Construction project manager. “... For example, some of the wood windows in the building are 100 years old, and they’re not in good shape, so we’ll be replacing those with exact replicas.”
There also will be a green living wall made up of plants and a bog feature and renovations to the gift shop.
“And then we’re going to be entering a fundraising campaign for a vivarium, which is a place where we anticipate that we’ll be hosting dart frogs, as part of an exhibition,” said Metro Parks Tacoma communications manager Nancy Johnson.
The project might extend slightly into the park, but not much. Routes around the park will be slightly impacted with crews moving about.
“We want to try to take as little as the park as possible, because I know for a fact this park is heavily used and heavily loved,” Sousie said.
The conservatory has already been closed for a few weeks as Metro Parks staff transitioned most of the plants to other locations so they stay out of the way of the construction. Some plants were main features and too big to move.
“We’ll be working with the Metro Parks team during construction to make sure that it’s protected and not disturbed,” Sousie said of the plants. “That’s one of the challenges, obviously, of this unique project, is there are some very delicate plants that have to remain and have to be protected and not touched.”
That’s what Sousie said he likes about the project, though.
“It’s kind of a unique project,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of projects, but I’ve never actually worked on a Victorian era greenhouse like this. That opportunity doesn’t pop up too much.”
The W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory is one of only three public Victorian-style conservatories on the West Coast and is listed on the city, state and national historic registers.
In 1907, William W. Seymour, who went on to become mayor of Tacoma, donated $10,000 to fund the construction of a botanical conservatory at Wright Park. The dome of the building was rebuilt in 1937 after constant moisture accelerated deterioration of the structure, and was restored again in 1992 through a bond measure.
Overall, the project is meant to extend the life of the Tacoma gem for years into the future, Johnson said.
“It’s a real rare treasure, right, and so thinking about how you do infrastructure improvements that sustain the icon that this is in this community is really what this project is about,” she said.
