Gardens: The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art is located in a parklike setting with other cultural and educational institutions. Built on land given by one of the museum's major donors, the museum opened to the public in 1916. The foreground of this majestic white marble structure, however, was a long-neglected parcel of land with a small lake owned by the City of Cleveland. In the 1920s the Garden Club of Cleveland took on the job of transforming this blighted plot into a garden everyone could enjoy. Mary Hoerner presents the history of the Fine Arts Garden, and Jeffrey Strean discusses the development of the museum's grounds since the 1930s as well as plans for the future. This lavishly illustrated and beautifully designed book presents a new aspect of the history of a distinguished institution.