Jeffrey and I traveled to Lake Wales to see the progress of the Children’s Garden Discovery Center at Bok Tower Gardens. Jeffrey captured some wonderful photos of the buildings under construction.
Bok Tower Carillon was constructed between 1922-1928. This National Historical Landmark was the brainchild of Edward Bok, Editor and Publisher of The Ladies Home Journal (in 1922, it was the most widely circulated magazine in the world). Milton B. Medary was the architect and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. was landscape architect (his father was Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park in NYC).
This 12 million dollar expansion includes a Children’s Interpretive Center and an outdoor demonstration kitchen, both of which will be clad in Goodwin’s River-Recovered® Heart Cypress Select siding & trim. Lake/Flato Architects of San Antonio, Texas are the design architects and the contractor is Henkelman Construction Inc. of Lakeland, Florida.
As a part of their ongoing mission, Bok Tower Gardens is an active restorer of the original longleaf habitat, something close and very dear to our hearts. So, you can see why Goodwin was especially excited to be part of this incredible project.
Remember the photos of our “Gentle Giant”? It was milled specifically for the Bok Tower Gardens expansion. We are thrilled to see how this antique River-Recovered treasure is being used to transform part of a National Historical Landmark!