Horticultural Hall (Boston, 1865)

Horticultural Hall (1865–1901) of Boston, Massachusetts, was the headquarters of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in the later 19th century. It stood at no.100-102 Tremont Street, at the corner of Bromfield Street, opposite the Granary Burying Ground.[1] Architects Gridley J.F. Bryant and Arthur Gilman designed the building.[2][3] Sculptor Martin Milmore created horticulturally-themed statuary for the building's exterior: "three ancient Roman goddesses ... Ceres, goddess of agriculture; Flora, goddess of flowers; and Pomona, goddess of fruit trees."[4] In the 1880s: "the ground floor [was] occupied by stores; the second story by the Library Room of the society and a hall for the weekly exhibitions; and the upper story by a large and elegant hall used ... at the annual and other important exhibitions. Both of these halls [were] often used for concerts and the better class of entertainments. The society's library, comprising over 4,000 volumes, [was] the most valuable collection of horticultural works in the United States. The halls [were] adorned with portraits and busts of the presidents, founders, and benefactors of the society."[5]

Horticultural Hall

By 1899 the society's rooms in the building seemed old-fashioned, small, inconvenient, and expensive to maintain.[6] After internal debate the society sold Horticultural Hall in 1900 and leased space there for some months thereafter.[7][8] In 1901 the society transferred to its new building in the Back Bay,[9][10] and the building on Tremont Street was demolished the same year.[11] At the time, Milmore's architectural statues were removed to the home of society president Albert C. Burrage (later the Glen Urquhart School) in Beverly, Massachusetts. In the mid-1990s the society restored Milmore's statues (only torsos survived) and installed them in their new headquarters in Wellesley, Massachusetts.[12][13][14]