HORTICULTURAL HALL, erected 1876, on site of LANSDOWNE MANSION, built by Governor John Penn in 1773; stone; Italian; in 1816, leased by Joseph Bonaparte for two years, accidentally destroyed by fire in 1854. In 1866, the land was acquired from Barney family for the park; Moorish style, architect, Hermann J. Schwarzmann, also responsible for plan of adjacent sunken garden: no other building for similar purposes in this country can approach it, in dignity of design: contains marble statue “Il Penseroso,” sculptor, Mosier, acquired, 1874. Notable plants housed in this building are a gigantic specimen of _Attalea Cohiene_, bay oil palm, from Central America, possibly most superb palm to be seen under glass anywhere; _Phœnix Canariensis_ from the Canary Islands; _Seaforthias_ from Australia; _Howeas_ from Lord Howe’s Island; Cocoa palms; _Ceroxylon_, wax palms, towering sixty or seventy feet; giant Rubber trees; _Araucarias_ from Australia; Bamboos from the Orient; and lofty Tree Ferns from New Zealand unite to produce a wonderfully impressive scene, not unlike a glorified tropical forest, emphasized by training creepers up the lofty stems, growing ferns and orchids in crotches of the limbs, and by the strange aerial roots which reach down from these clinging plants to seek nourishment in the soil below, as in the tropical jungle. The Cactus house is arranged to give something the effect of arid regions, by planting in sterile soil; the Fern houses, with superb collections of Tree Ferns, and smaller growing _Adiantums_, _Nephrolepis_, _Acrostichums_, recall the effect of mountain ravines. A special house is given to the Cycads or Sago palms, survivals of vegetation of fossil beds, of which this collection is unique in this country. Another tropical house contains the _Bromeliad_ or pineapple family, collection unique in many respects. In the gardens, most striking features are the rare trees, golden larch, Pseudo-Larix; the Gordonias, _Franklinias_; oaks. East front has bronze busts of SCHUBERT, granite pedestal with bronze bas-relief; “Music,” sculptor, Henry Baerer, New York; HAYDEN, a trophy won by United Singers of Philadelphia at the National Saengerfest; VERDI, on artistic sandstone pedestal, with carved figure; “Religious Liberty,” marble, sculptor, Moses Ezekiel; presented by the Hebrew Society B’nai B’rith. A short walk east, near Columbia Avenue bridge, is said to be Tom Moore’s cottage; the poet was a frequent guest both at Belmont and Ormiston, with communication by boat.