Past Exhibitions

Center for Culture: The Bradley Property and the Olmsted Garden

April 7, 2013 - January 5, 2014

History Gallery

View the gallery guide online.

The Bradley Olmsted garden is the focus of this exhibition celebrating the Museum’s 60th Anniversary. Designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm of Boston, which was founded by noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the property’s garden was completed with substantial involvement by homeowner William C. Bradley. Of the thirteen residential projects the Olmsted firm worked on in Georgia, including others in Columbus, the Bradley garden is widely recognized as the most significant. Its design typifies the more naturalistic gardens that became popular in the 1920s, while also incorporating innovative technology into its ponds and outbuildings.

This exhibition provides a history of the Museum and grounds and their role in the cultural history of the city of Columbus. In addition to the garden, the exhibition explores the legacy of businessman and philanthropist W.C. Bradley, his home in which the Museum was founded and the Wynnton area in which it is located, and the uses of the Bradley property over the years for such institutions as the public library and the administrative offices of the Columbus school district. It includes a variety of images, blueprints, clothing, and other objects associated with the history of the Museum and grounds, as well as home videos featuring the Bradley family during their ownership of the property.

This exhibition is made possible by the generous funding of SunTrust Bank, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Y. Bradley, Mr. and Mrs. J. Madden Hatcher, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. William C. Huff, Mr. and Mrs. Jack B. Key, Jr., Mrs. David G. Lewis, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Alan C. Ramsey, Jr., Mrs. Rose H. Steiner, Mr. and Mrs. Sam M. Wellborn.