Landscape Information
Situated in Rockefeller Park, this garden is nestled between East Boulevard and Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive. Dedicated in 1940 and designed by landscape architects Thomas Jones and Maurice Cornell, the sunken garden is sited atop a hill that slopes to the west, toward the drive below.
Past the East Boulevard entrance, flanked by a pair of Doric columns a stone staircase descends to a rectilinear lawn, measuring approximately 40 feet long and 20 feet wide. The staircase is edged on each side by a single deciduous tree that recalls the columns to the east. A stone walk surrounds the lawn and is framed by terraced beds planted with sage, myrtle, and deciduous trees, including oaks and gingkos, in progressive tiers.
West of the lawn, the garden features a stone plaza and a central, rectangular, fountain bordered by beds of hostas. The garden’s western edge is defined by a stone pylon inspired by the Parthenon and inscribed with the names of Greek philosophers, writers, artists, and scientists. Stone paths lead from the plaza to the pylon’s western façade, where a shallow stone platform, ornamented with a stone bench flanked by urns, overlooks a gently sloping hillside interspersed with flowering and deciduous trees. Two arced stone staircases descend from the overlook towards the drive below.
The garden is supported by the Hellenic Preservation Society and is a contributing feature of the Rockefeller Park and Cleveland Cultural Gardens Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
