The architect of this proposed building, William Waud, received his architectural training in England where he assisted Sir Joseph Paxton in the designing of the Crystal Palace (1851). He immigrated to the United States in 1855 and relocated to Boston in 1856 where he was listed in the Boston Directory as a "designer" from 1857-1859. He achieved success as a Civil War illustrator for Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's Ilustrated Weekly. William Emerson Baker was a wealthy Boston entrepreneur and social reformer with an interest in gardens and art. He acquired a grant of land in the newly developed Back Bay upon which Boston's Museum of Natural History was later erected. In the 1870s, Baker developed an "Educational Amusement Park, Formal Gardens and Art Exhibit" on his estate in Needham, Mass. Known as Ridge Hill Farms, the park was opened to the public and featured a conservatory, glasshouses, greenhouses, and a crystal tower. Baker's architect was George F. Meacham who had also submitted a design for the Public Garden in 1859, a design which was later implemented.
Boston's Public Garden was in its early development in the 1850s. On the 26th of April 1859 the citizens of Boston approved a legislative act prohibiting the erection of any buildings in the Public Garden and, consequently, Waud's proposed conservatory was never erected.
From the description of Proposed Massachusetts conservatory of art, science, and historical relics [graphic] / Wm. Waud, architect, from suggestions by Wm. E. Baker. 1859. (Boston Athenaeum). WorldCat record id: 46939081
