Save the Prouty Garden at BCH
Donation protected
We are a concerned group of patients, families, staff, and community members, and are ever so grateful for the way that the community has come together in support of our common goal to Save the Prouty. If you are already aware of the Prouty's plight, please kindly donate whatever you can today to help us meet our goal. If not, please read below and visit our website www.saveprouty.org for more information. And spread the word! Thank you.
What is happening?
There is a plan to raze the beautiful and historic Prouty Garden at Boston Children's Hospital.
The Prouty Garden is a true natural healing space -- with swaths of grass, bunnies, birds and changing seasons that allow children and families to feel connected to the real world, during a time when they are otherwise cut off from it. The healing impact of this is immense, and the Prouty has benefited countless patients, families and staff since its establishment in 1956. The Prouty Garden is a memorial garden, endowed by Olive Higgins Prouty , in honor of her two daughters Anne and Olivia, who died at a young age.
Boston Children’s Hospital leadership has announced plans for a multistory, $1.2 billion new building to include a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit and more private rooms. The plan calls for the new building to be built on the site of the Prouty Garden — sacrificing the vital healing benefit it has held for generations of patients and their families.
What about the proposed green space in the master plan for the new building? Isn't that a good replacement?
The promised “more total square footage” of green space in the new construction plan is misleading. While the destructive plan boasts an increase in the overall square footage of green space by more than 10,000 sq. feet, they are in fact creating a series of smaller gardens that are only a fraction of the size of the Prouty. This is akin to proclaiming that a dozen rooftop gardens are equivalent to the Public Garden, simply because of comparable square footage. The Prouty Garden is 23,000 square feet, while the largest garden in the new space is nearly half that, at 13,500 square feet, and the others are even less. This would seriously limit the opportunity for the new green space to function in the way that the Prouty does, as many of its advantages are enhanced by its size. To do away with a significant area of greenery that has managed to survive in the congested Longwood area, is shameful.
Additionally, there is no comparison in terms of quality. In any case, any new building today would include green space as the industry standard. While the proposed green space will undoubtedly be beneficial and well-designed, the Prouty Garden, with its verdure and grassy lawn, its bits of wildlife and towering leafy trees, is of an entirely different ilk from the manufactured green space we see in hospitals today.
But we do not want to stand in the way of a new, necessary clinical building, right?
No, we do not. We fully support the need for a new clinical building. Boston Children’s Hospital is a world-class leader in childhood healthcare, & must continuously grow and change to remain so. We are urging the hospital to listen to the patients, clinicians, environmentalists and community members who have spoken up, and to commit to using their vast resources to explore other options that were initially deemed less economical. We are aware that from the beginning there were a multitude of other plans, and that in the end, the Prouty Garden was chosen for its convenience and economy.
The Hospital has the resources to enact and execute creative solutions to this problem should they so choose, and we are urging them to do so.
If they build as planned now, what happens when the hospital needs to expand again?
Exactly. Over the next 10 - 20 years, it will be hard, but not impossible, to find Longwood real estate to site new buildings on, and rest assured they will find a way to expand. But the Prouty Garden, one of the few remaining open spaces in the Longwood area, will be lost forever.
What happens during construction?
Of equal importance is the fact that if the Prouty Garden is lost, construction, which is estimated to take 4 years, will immediately leave the hospital and its patients without its most important healing space for an extended period of time. That is unacceptable.
Why is the Prouty special?
The Prouty is considered a premiere example of therapeutic healing gardens in the U.S. Healing gardens should be large and private enough to seem like “another world,” and should feature mature shade trees, such as the 65-foot tall Dawn Redwood , amongst others. They should offer inviting walkways free of impediments to IV poles & wheelchairs. They should have private alcoves for solitude, meditation, and bereavement. As we understand it, the largest green space in the new master plan will be near the front of the hospital, threatening the kind of privacy that the Prouty currently enjoys.
The Prouty has delighted and brought comfort to patients, families, & staff for almost 60 years. It was designed by the Olmsted Brothers’ firm, and awarded a Gold medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for its remarkable beauty and function as a healing space. The garden continues to provide significant, unique healing benefits which we believe cannot be equaled by the proposed green space in the new construction.
We deeply thank everyone for their support; we are all working towards a common goal.
"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."
- Frank Lloyd Wright
What is happening?
There is a plan to raze the beautiful and historic Prouty Garden at Boston Children's Hospital.
The Prouty Garden is a true natural healing space -- with swaths of grass, bunnies, birds and changing seasons that allow children and families to feel connected to the real world, during a time when they are otherwise cut off from it. The healing impact of this is immense, and the Prouty has benefited countless patients, families and staff since its establishment in 1956. The Prouty Garden is a memorial garden, endowed by Olive Higgins Prouty , in honor of her two daughters Anne and Olivia, who died at a young age.
Boston Children’s Hospital leadership has announced plans for a multistory, $1.2 billion new building to include a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit and more private rooms. The plan calls for the new building to be built on the site of the Prouty Garden — sacrificing the vital healing benefit it has held for generations of patients and their families.
What about the proposed green space in the master plan for the new building? Isn't that a good replacement?
The promised “more total square footage” of green space in the new construction plan is misleading. While the destructive plan boasts an increase in the overall square footage of green space by more than 10,000 sq. feet, they are in fact creating a series of smaller gardens that are only a fraction of the size of the Prouty. This is akin to proclaiming that a dozen rooftop gardens are equivalent to the Public Garden, simply because of comparable square footage. The Prouty Garden is 23,000 square feet, while the largest garden in the new space is nearly half that, at 13,500 square feet, and the others are even less. This would seriously limit the opportunity for the new green space to function in the way that the Prouty does, as many of its advantages are enhanced by its size. To do away with a significant area of greenery that has managed to survive in the congested Longwood area, is shameful.
Additionally, there is no comparison in terms of quality. In any case, any new building today would include green space as the industry standard. While the proposed green space will undoubtedly be beneficial and well-designed, the Prouty Garden, with its verdure and grassy lawn, its bits of wildlife and towering leafy trees, is of an entirely different ilk from the manufactured green space we see in hospitals today.
But we do not want to stand in the way of a new, necessary clinical building, right?
No, we do not. We fully support the need for a new clinical building. Boston Children’s Hospital is a world-class leader in childhood healthcare, & must continuously grow and change to remain so. We are urging the hospital to listen to the patients, clinicians, environmentalists and community members who have spoken up, and to commit to using their vast resources to explore other options that were initially deemed less economical. We are aware that from the beginning there were a multitude of other plans, and that in the end, the Prouty Garden was chosen for its convenience and economy.
The Hospital has the resources to enact and execute creative solutions to this problem should they so choose, and we are urging them to do so.
If they build as planned now, what happens when the hospital needs to expand again?
Exactly. Over the next 10 - 20 years, it will be hard, but not impossible, to find Longwood real estate to site new buildings on, and rest assured they will find a way to expand. But the Prouty Garden, one of the few remaining open spaces in the Longwood area, will be lost forever.
What happens during construction?
Of equal importance is the fact that if the Prouty Garden is lost, construction, which is estimated to take 4 years, will immediately leave the hospital and its patients without its most important healing space for an extended period of time. That is unacceptable.
Why is the Prouty special?
The Prouty is considered a premiere example of therapeutic healing gardens in the U.S. Healing gardens should be large and private enough to seem like “another world,” and should feature mature shade trees, such as the 65-foot tall Dawn Redwood , amongst others. They should offer inviting walkways free of impediments to IV poles & wheelchairs. They should have private alcoves for solitude, meditation, and bereavement. As we understand it, the largest green space in the new master plan will be near the front of the hospital, threatening the kind of privacy that the Prouty currently enjoys.
The Prouty has delighted and brought comfort to patients, families, & staff for almost 60 years. It was designed by the Olmsted Brothers’ firm, and awarded a Gold medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for its remarkable beauty and function as a healing space. The garden continues to provide significant, unique healing benefits which we believe cannot be equaled by the proposed green space in the new construction.
We deeply thank everyone for their support; we are all working towards a common goal.
"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."
- Frank Lloyd Wright
Organizer
SaveProuty Garden
Organizer
Boston, MA
