Location: East Town Street, near the Columbus Museum of Art and Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Provenance: In the 1980s, sculptor James T. Mason got an idea for a garden of topiaries that re-create A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat’s famous post-impressionist painting of Parisians enjoying a park on the Seine River. He presented the idea to what then was the Columbus Parks Department, and when the concept earned approval, Mason and his wife, Elaine, began creating living sculptures made from yews on the grounds of the city’s Old Deaf School Park. He planted the evergreens and fashioned bronze frameworks to support them, while she shaped the yews into topiaries representing the figures in Seurat’s 1884 masterpiece. The 7-acre garden was dedicated in 1992.
Significance: Featuring the only known topiary garden that interprets a work of art, Topiary Park is not only unique, it’s world-famous. Its landscape mimics a landscape painting: a man-made pond represents the Seine, and the topiaries depict 54 human figures, eight boats, three dogs, a monkey, and a cat.
Currently: Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2017, the Topiary Park is a popular neighborhood haven as well as a prime tourist attraction in Columbus’ Discovery District. Although the city’s Recreation and Parks Department oversees the park, volunteers from the Friends of the Topiary Park help to maintain and operate it. “The park gets visitors from countries as far away as France and Japan, and it’s included in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens,” says Friends Executive Director Carlene Palmquist.
Topiary Park also features a Tree Walk, with winding pathways and dozens of different trees. At the Town Street entrance, the Gatehouse — reminiscent of a French farmhouse — doubles as a gift shop and visitor center, with exhibits about the park. In addition to the self-guided tour information that’s available at the Gatehouse, the Friends group also schedules docent-led tours, for a fee.
Little-known fact: For the best view of the Topiary Garden, visitors should go to the east side of the park and stand at the top of the hill that has an easel with a bronze relief replica of Seurat’s painting.
