Cylburn Arboretum Explained

Cylburn House and Park District
Nrhp Type:hd
Nocat:yes
Location:4915 Greenspring Ave., Baltimore, Maryland
Coordinates:39.3525°N -76.6528°W
Area:207acres
Built:1863
Architect:George A. Frederick
Architecture:Renaissance
Added:May 04, 1972
Refnum:72001493
Designated Other1:BCL
Designated Other1 Abbr:BCL
Designated Other1 Date:1975

Cylburn Arboretum [pronounced Sill·burn arr·burr·EE·tum] is a city park with arboretum and gardens, located at 4915 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland. It is open daily excluding Mondays without charge.

The arboretum began as the private estate of businessman Jesse Tyson, who started construction of Cylburn Mansion in 1863. The house, designed by Baltimore City Hall architect George Aloysius Frederick, was eventually completed in 1888 and remains intact, a stone structure built of gneiss from Tyson's quarries at Bare Hills, with mansard roof, tower, and an Italianate cupola. It became the Cylburn Wildflower Preserve and Garden Center in 1954 and, in 1982, was renamed the Cylburn Arboretum Association.[1]

The Cylburn Mansion houses a display of watercolor paintings of Maryland wildflowers that is open to the public.

Today the arboretum contains an extensive collection of trees and woody shrubs based loosely on the Tysons' original plantings. Collections include azaleas, bamboo, beeches, boxwoods, chestnuts, conifers, hollies, Japanese maples, magnolias, maples, Maryland oaks, and viburnum.

The arboretum also includes a number of flower and vegetable gardens, as well as greenhouses designed and built in the 1960s by Lord & Burnham. The greenhouses grow plants for the city's parks, and are not open to the general public.

The arboretum is included in the Baltimore National Heritage Area.[2]

It was used as a filming location for "Final Grades", a 2006 episode of The Wire, in which Bodie Broadus and Jimmy McNulty have a conversation in the park.[3] [4]

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: National Register of Historic Places Registration: Cylburn House and Park District . December 1971. 2016-03-01 . Mrs. Preston Parish. Maryland Historical Trust.
  2. Web site: Baltimore National Heritage Area Map . https://web.archive.org/web/20130522024255/http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Portals/0/agencies/heritage/public%20downloads/neighborhoods_heritageareas.pdf . dead . May 22, 2013 . City of Baltimore . March 11, 2012 .
  3. Book: Vint, Sherryl. The Wire. March 15, 2013. Wayne State University Press. 978-0814335932. Google Books.
  4. Book: The Wire in the College Classroom: Pedagogical Approaches in the Humanities. Karen. Dillon. Naomi. Crummey. March 18, 2015. McFarland. 9780786495283. Google Books.