Why you should experience Lath House at New Orleans Botanical Garden in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Lath House at New Orleans Botanical Garden is a distinctive garden pavilion where City Park's horticultural heritage, educational mission, shaded landscape design, and historic preservation create one of the Botanical Garden's most versatile gathering spaces.
Set within New Orleans Botanical Garden near the Garden Study Center and just steps from the Conservatory of the Two Sisters, this beautifully restored open-air structure blends traditional lath construction, filtered natural light, lush surrounding plantings, and graceful architectural simplicity into an inviting environment designed for both learning and quiet appreciation of the garden. Slatted walls, broad overhead latticework, and carefully integrated landscaping create ideal growing conditions for shade-loving plants while establishing a tranquil setting that reflects the Botanical Garden's longstanding commitment to horticultural education. The result is a destination defined by botanical craftsmanship, architectural harmony, and enduring educational purpose.
What you should know about Lath House at New Orleans Botanical Garden.
Lath House at New Orleans Botanical Garden is best known for originating as a Works Progress Administration structure during the 1930s, when it was constructed to cultivate camellias and other shade-loving plants before being comprehensively transformed in 1997 into a horticultural hands-on laboratory through an award-winning restoration led by the Garden Study Club of New Orleans. Supported by the Garden Club of America Founders Fund, the project converted the historic lath house into a dedicated teaching complex featuring a central laboratory, air-conditioned classroom, office, accessible facilities, and instructional space that significantly expanded the Botanical Garden's educational mission while preserving one of its few surviving WPA-era horticultural structures. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the building underwent another extensive restoration as part of the broader recovery of New Orleans Botanical Garden, where nearly ninety percent of the living collections required replanting after prolonged flooding, allowing the Lath House to resume its role as an active center for workshops, demonstrations, volunteer programs, and horticultural instruction. Open lath walls, a translucent roof, naturally ventilated interiors, and flexible gathering spaces continue supporting educational programming, exhibitions, and community events while demonstrating how thoughtful adaptive reuse preserved an important piece of New Orleans' landscape architecture and gardening history.
Filtered sunlight, open-air architecture, carefully moderated growing conditions, and surrounding ornamental gardens continually demonstrate the practical ingenuity of traditional shade-house design while creating a setting equally suited for education and quiet reflection. The seamless integration of historic preservation, botanical science, and contemporary programming reinforces the Botanical Garden's role as one of the Gulf South's leading horticultural institutions. Lath House at New Orleans Botanical Garden continues demonstrating how adaptive preservation and hands-on learning can sustain both historic architecture and living collections for future generations.
How to fold Lath House at New Orleans Botanical Garden into your trip.
Lath House at New Orleans Botanical Garden works as part of a curated exploration through the New Orleans Botanical Garden's celebrated horticultural collections.
Begin at Garden Study Center, where educational exhibits and horticultural programming provide the perfect introduction before continuing to Lath House. Continue to Conservatory of the Two Sisters, whose tropical collections and dramatic glass architecture expand appreciation of the Botanical Garden's diverse plant collections. Conclude at the Train Garden, where meticulously crafted botanical models and miniature railways provide a memorable finale celebrating the creativity and craftsmanship that define City Park's premier garden destination. The progression moves naturally from horticultural education to historic garden architecture before concluding through one of the Botanical Garden's most beloved attractions, revealing why Lath House remains an essential component of New Orleans Botanical Garden's living legacy.
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