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18-452: One of Houston's oldest public parks, Hermann Park was created on acreage donated to the City of Houston by cattleman, oilman and philanthropist George H. Hermann (1843–1914). The land was formerly the site of his sawmill. It was first envisioned as part of a comprehensive urban planning effort by the city of Houston in the early 1910s. Following the recommendation of a 1913 report which identified

36-671: A gap of 20,000 maintenance hours for the Park. In response, the Conservancy hired a Manager of Volunteer Programs. In 2004 over 1,200 volunteers provided over 14,000 hours of volunteer service in the park. See also: List of companies in Houston See: List of colleges and universities in Houston [REDACTED] Category [REDACTED] Texas portal George H. Hermann George H. Hermann (August 6, 1843 – October 21, 1914)

54-559: A master plan for Hermann Park that has provided a “blueprint” for all subsequent renovations and enhancements to the Park. In 2004, Friends of Hermann Park changed its name to the Hermann Park Conservancy (HPC) to reflect an institutional and permanent commitment to stewardship of Hermann Park’s natural resources and physical infrastructure. In an international competition, the Rice Design Alliance invited designers to set

72-655: The Third Ward . T. R. Witcher of the Houston Press wrote in 1995 that the park and nearby areas are "not the first places that come to mind when you say "Third Ward,"[...]". Hermann Park was presented to the City of Houston by George Hermann in 1914, and is now Houston's most historically significant public green space. Over the years, the Houston Zoo , Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Museum of Natural Science , and one of

90-582: The 1920s to honor veterans of WW I, and a second row that was added as part of the project. Noted in a winning entry for the 2005 National Award of Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the “Heart of the Park” reflecting pool utilized a biofiltration system of gravel beds and perforated pipes to trap organics so that they naturally decompose. Porous paving systems and decomposed granite also limit potential damage from increased water run-off from

108-576: The Hermann Hospital Foundation. George Henry Hermann was born on August 6, 1843, to John and Fannie (Mitchell) Hermann in Houston. Both parents were natives of Davos, Switzerland. His father fought in the Battle of Waterloo and traveled to the United States before marrying. John and Fannie traveled to the United States and Mexico before settling in Houston in 1838. John worked as a baker and in

126-538: The dairy business while accumulating real estate along the way. George was one of seven children, though the only one who survived his youth. While still a teenager, Hermann enlisted with a Confederate Cavalry company and served in that unit through most of the Civil War . After the war, he engaged in the cattle and real estate businesses, while selling firewood and lumber. Hermann died on October 21, 1914, in Baltimore. He

144-555: The development of more attractive, usable green space in Hermann Park and to promote the restoration of the Park to its originally intended standards of beauty. In 1993, FHP commissioned a master plan for Hermann Park from Hanna/ Olin Partnership of Philadelphia. This Master Plan, created in consultation with the City of Houston and various stakeholders, was adopted in 1997 by Houston City Council. In 1995, Friends of Hermann Park adopted

162-491: The first desegregated public golf courses in the United States all have added to the Park's importance as a recreational destination. By the late 1980s however, due to insufficient public resources and very high public attendance, the park became rundown and entered a state of disrepair. In response, a group of committed and visionary Houstonians formed the nonprofit organization known as the Friends of Hermann Park (FHP) to encourage

180-640: The following decades. Ultimately, Hermann Park and Rice University are two clear expressions of the City Beautiful movement in Houston. The opening of the Houston Zoo in 1922 and the requisition of a large southern portion of the park for the establishment of the Texas Medical Center in 1943 fundamentally altered the scope and configuration of the space, though significant elements of the Kessler plan—such as

198-412: The north-south axis extending from Montrose Boulevard—remain and have been expanded upon. Hermann Park experienced a period of neglect in the latter half of the 20th century due to a lack of funding and maintenance, spurring the formation of the nonprofit Hermann Park Conservancy in 1992. The Conservancy has since leveraged over $ 120 million of public and private funds to renovate and remake broad areas of

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216-630: The park. Today, Hermann Park welcomes over six million visitors annually; the Houston Zoo was the second most visited paid-admission zoo in the United States in 2016 (behind San Diego Zoo ), with over 2.5 million visitors. Hermann Park is served by the Hermann Park / Rice University station on the METRORail Red Line , which runs along Fannin Street at the western edge of the park. The Third Ward Redevelopment Council defines Hermann Park as being part of

234-505: The site. The Hermann Park Conservancy continues working in partnership with the City of Houston to secure funds and manage the design of projects to be undertaken in the Park: The Conservancy also developed a Maintenance and Operations Master Plan Study for Hermann Park - the first such comprehensive study ever for this flagship park of Houston. The study identified many concerns for preserving and protecting Hermann Park, including

252-424: The then-rural area between Main Street and Brays Bayou as ideal for a large urban park, real estate investor and entrepreneur George H. Hermann , who owned most of the area and served on the city's parks board, bequeathed his estate to Houston for use as a public green space in 1914. By 1916, famed landscape architect George Kessler had completed a master plan for the park which was gradually implemented throughout

270-404: The tone and revitalize the main entry and reflecting pool that formed a key axis for Hermann Park, “The Heart of the Park”, and to create a contemporary update to the park's earliest plans by George Kessler and a subsequent, more formal Hare & Hare plan in 1936. SWA Group, an international landscape and urban design firm working in conjunction with W.O. Neuhaus Architects and other consultants,

288-620: Was an entrepreneur based in Houston, Texas. He served the Confederacy in the American Civil War. He was a dealer in wood products and cattle. He invested in real estate and was an early investor in oilfields around Humble, Texas , which led to a financial windfall from a rich oil strike. He donated most of his estate to the public upon his death, including land for the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and Hermann Park. Land and other assets funded

306-515: Was interred at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. Hermann’s greatest legacy endures in two Houston institutions: Hermann Park and Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center . Hermann bequeathed an estate valued at $ 2.6 million to establish a hospital. The Hermann Hospital Foundation generated income from the sale of Hermann’s real estate and from retaining the mineral rights to those lands. The Hermann estate also gifted land for

324-418: Was selected over 100 respondents. The most striking of the changes to the 18-acre (7.3 ha) project area was a narrower, more inviting 80-foot-wide (24 m) by 740-foot-long (230 m) reflection pool. It establishes the formal central axis for the space and its slight narrower design afforded elegant pedestrian promenades as well as a double-row of mature Live Oak trees – one row that had been planted in

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