A Stroll in the Conservatory Garden

As I said in a Salute from 2004 on the Forgotten Delights site, the Conservatory Garden at Fifth Ave. and 105th St. is among the quietest and most relaxing outdoor places in Manhattan. In August the gardens are not as riotous with flowers as in the Spring, but some of the beds are still spectacular. And, of course, the sculptures are still there, and still among the most cheerful in the city. Below, some recent photos of the Burnett Fountain and the Untermeyer Fountain.

The birds actually do use the birdbath, and then frequently perch on top of the girl's head. I wonder if Vonnoh, the sculptor, thought of that when she gave the girl that tousled upsweep? This is the only sculpture I know of on which birds regularly perch that doesn't have streaks of bird droppings running down its head.

The most famous works by Walter Schott, sculptor of the Untermeyer Fountain, are appropriately in the Sans Souci ("without a care") palace in Potsdam.

Two blocks south of the Conservatory Garden entrance stands Dr. Sims, "The Father of Gynecology," who's in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan as Essay 47.