SF Chronicle on Conservatory opening

By Rachel Gordon

More than a century ago, a British-born inventor and stargazer built on his remote San Francisco estate a whimsical conservatory with eight sides and a soaring ceiling to house his collection of exotic plants and flowers. Time, vandals and the threat of a wrecking ball nearly brought the structure to ruin.

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But, thanks to a group of tenacious neighbors and preservationists and the willingness of city officials, the Sunnyside Conservatory has been resurrected. Today is its official reopening, a chance for the community to celebrate the landmark’s rebirth.

It is a day that would have been hard to imagine a decade ago when the campaign began to save the conservatory and restore it to its grandeur of 111 years ago.

“You can dream, but I really didn’t imagine it would be this wonderful,” said Arnold Levine, co-chairman of Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory, the community group that pushed the city to refurbish the building at 236 Monterey Blvd. in the Sunnyside neighborhood, tucked between City College and Glen Park.