Becky's photoblog

Not a bad way to start a Saturday …
I volunteered this morning at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the light pouring in to the greenhouse was absolutely gorgeous.

Photography is permitted on the first floor of the Gardner Museum‘s new wing, and I finally got around to snapping a few of my own photos. I have a ways to go because the new wing is gorgeous, but let’s start with the greenhouse. The first thing I see every time I arrive at the Gardner Museum is the new greenhouse. The flowers for the museum’s signature courtyard used to be grown and cared for at an off-site greenhouse, but one of the many gems of the new wing is an onsite greenhouse, complete with a greenhouse classroom for teaching school groups about Isabella’s gardens. And my favorite, purple orchids.

I was taking a handful of shots of the Gardner Museum’s new building, but I got distracted by the gorgeous fall foliage. How fabulous is that color?

Looking at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum across Evans Way Park

The new greenhouse (slanted glass on the left), the new entrance and lobby (green panels in the middle), and the new special exhibition gallery (the cube on the right). The new building will also contain a new performance hall, gift shop, cafe, classrooms, offices and a lounge for me and my fellow volunteers 🙂


From Palace Road, you can see the new cafe, and the patio for outdoor dining. Beyond the patio, you can see the glass tunnel that connects the new building to the historic palace. Above the new cafe is the new performance hall. 

This is the view from the 5th floor of the Simmons School of Management looking towards Boston Latin (on the left) and Back Bay (on the right). I took this shot just before the lecture by one of the Gardner architects on the design, materials and techniques in the Gardner’s new building. I’m so excited about the new building – just a few more weeks until I get to see the inside 🙂