Hermann Park to bloom as original designer envisioned

In his plan for Hermann Park, George Kessler envisioned a "grand gateway" of sculpted greenery that would telegraph to weary urbanites their arrival at a wooded sanctuary in the city's heart. Southeast from what is now Mecom Fountain, Hermann Loop Drive would be punctuated by a series of green islands, ending in a tranquil pool reflecting trees and sky.

The City Beautiful Movement's ethos of architecture as civic uplift inspired Kessler's design, and the German-born landscape architect doubtless thought the park - then Houston's largest - would be a potent expression of beauty in a town still rough at the edges.

Kessler's plan never was fulfilled. His intricately landscaped islands became mere medians. San Jacinto and Fannin streets barged in to upset the aesthetic balance. And, for four generations, his planned reflection pool was nothing but a mud pit.

Now, on the cusp of the park's 2014 centennial, elements of its creator's long-deferred dream finally are being realized. In 2004, the handsome limestone block-lined Jones Reflection Pool was opened. Later this month, ground will be broken for a $4 million remake of Kessler's grand gateway.

Plans also call for upgrading the park's western edge, a live oak-lined 8-acre linear tract between Main and Fannin, with an improved pedestrian path and additional plantings.

The grand gateway, to be completed in March, is the penultimate component in a 1995 master plan for the 445-acre park. In September, ground will be broken for the final element, a $30 million redesign of the park's 15-acre garden center.

"It's called the 'grand gateway' for a reason," said its designer, Houston landscape architect Kevin Shanley, likening it to "the knocker on the front door of a wonderful huge house, a house of many rooms and so many things to do."

Today, Kessler's grand gateway bears the scars of urban neglect. Sidewalks end in broken concrete and the once-eye-catching medians are just a blip in the consciousness of passing motorists. Strollers trying to traverse the gateway from the fountain to Sam Houston's statue "take their lives in their hands," Shanley said.]

Plans call for new walkways and lighting to facilitate foot traffic through the area, and colorful plantings of roses and other flowers that should bloom throughout the year. The medians will be visually united with borders of limestone blocks mirroring those surrounding the reflection pool.

Restoring park's 'spine'

Doreen Stoller, executive director of the Hermann Park Conservancy, called it "the perfect project" to dedicate at the beginning of the park's centennial. "It restores the historic spine to the park, reconnects it to surrounding neighborhoods. … Now, you will know when you enter Hermann Park."

Funded through the conservancy's Centennial Campaign and a Texas Department of Transportation grant, the gateway will be the latest in more than $100 million in park improvements since the late 1990s.

Projects initiated by the conservancy or its predecessor, Friends of Hermann Park, include the redesign of the Miller Outdoor Theater plaza, doubling the size of McGovern Lake, construction of Lake Plaza and its miniature train station, trail improvements and the long-deferred completion of the reflection pool.

Tommy Lott, a 27-year resident of the Warwick Towers condominium flanking the park, marveled at the park's evolution. "When we first moved here, when you saw the sun going down, you'd better get out of that park," he said. "It was in bad shape."

Now, said Lott, who has helped raise funds for park improvements, the green space is beautiful.

"It's surprising how often you'll meet someone there who says, 'I used to come here with my parents.' And now they're there with their children. That tells you how important this place is."

Garden center update

In September, the conservancy will begin work on the park's garden center, moving the existing parking lot and creating eight contiguous acres of plantings.

"The roses are really beautiful, it's true," said Stoller, "but much of the site has grown in an unplanned fashion, and it's really hard to discover some of the special gardens, the bog garden or the perennial garden. The parking lot really broke things up. The gardens were just planted wherever they had room."

The new gardens will feature an entry pavilion, a reorganized international sculpture garden and a 30-foot-tall hill with an observation platform and an artificial waterfall. At the garden's center will be a lawn more than 100 yards long and bordered by colorful plantings and vine-covered arbors.

The gardens will open in October 2014.