Folks in wheelchairs, scooters and strollers will notice something different about the Sunken Garden at the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in Como Park.
After decades of spotty service, the oft-broken elevators are gone. Wheelchair accessible ramps are in. And the entire Sunken Garden — upper and lower levels — is open with no “Out of Order” signs in sight.
“It’s been a journey, to say the least,” said Michelle Furrer, director of Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul. “It, finally, really came together.”
The project wrapped up last Saturday just in time for the Conservatory’s 2025 Winter Flower Show that began Sunday, with bursts of color from pink veltheimia, dark red pansies, crimson dianthus, hibiscus, delicate poppies, fragrant sweet peas and phlox.
And if you think this $765,303 project to install wheelchair ramps in place of balky elevators was easy, well, it’s way more detailed than that.
Opened in November 1915, the Conservatory didn’t actually have a sunken garden until a few years after the grand building opened to add some architectural uniqueness. Decades ago, officials installed two custom-built wheelchair lifts to make the garden’s extensive lower level open to the mobility challenged.
But, Furrer said, because the lifts were custom built, parts used for repairs had to be custom-made. And the high humidity in the glass and steel structure made the elevators break down — a lot.