Volunteer Park and Conservatory

Volunteer Park is Capitol Hill's crown and the best low-cost rainy-day escape in the city. Designed in the early twentieth century by the Olmsted Brothers, it spreads across the top of the hill with lawns, old trees, a reservoir and three cultural anchors. The star is the Volunteer Park Conservatory, a white-framed Victorian glasshouse opened in 1912 and inspired by London's Crystal Palace. Inside, its houses hold palms soaring to the roof, bromeliads, ferns, a seasonal display house that changes through the year, and a cactus and succulent collection, all warm and humid — a perfect antidote to grey Seattle weather. Entry costs a few dollars, children five and under are free, and the first Thursday of each month is free for everyone. Next to it stands the Seattle Asian Art Museum, an Art Deco gem from the 1930s that reopened after a major renovation and expansion, part of the Seattle Art Museum family. Out front, Isamu Noguchi's Black Sun, a great dark stone ring, perfectly frames the Space Needle in the distance and is one of the city's favorite photo spots. The park's brick water tower, built in 1907, has an interior staircase leading up to views over the city when it is open. Just north lies Lake View Cemetery, where Bruce Lee and his son Brandon are buried and fans leave tributes. The neighborhood around the park is lined with grand early-twentieth-century mansions, and Capitol Hill's cafes and restaurants are a short walk away. Fit: rainy-day planners, couples, families with small kids, plant lovers, and visitors exploring Capitol Hill.

The park took its name from the volunteers of the Spanish-American War and was among the jewels of the Olmsted Brothers' plan for a citywide network of parks and boulevards. The conservatory was built a few years later as a public greenhouse, and it has been restored and maintained over the decades with help from the Friends of the Conservatory, the nonprofit that supports it now. Its architecture, all painted steel and glass panes, is as photogenic as the plants inside. The Asian Art Museum was the original home of the Seattle Art Museum before the downtown building opened, and its renovation added gallery space and a glass-walled lobby facing the park.

Working a visit: start at the conservatory, which opens in the late morning and closes in the afternoon, and allow forty-five minutes for its houses. Walk out to Black Sun for the framed view of the Needle and the Olympic Mountains beyond, then see the Asian Art Museum if time and budget allow (it is ticketed separately). Climb the water tower if it is open for the bird's-eye view, then walk north to Lake View Cemetery to pay respects at the Lee graves. Finish on Fifteenth Avenue East or Broadway for coffee and lunch. On a sunny day, the lawns are prime picnic territory.

Practicals and fit: Volunteer Park sits at the north end of Capitol Hill, about ten minutes by car or bus from downtown, with free parking along the park drives. The conservatory opens Tuesday through Sunday and closes Mondays, charges a small fee with discounts for youth, seniors and students, and is free on First Thursdays. The park itself is free and open daily. Pair with the Washington Park Arboretum to the southeast, or with an evening on Capitol Hill. In late spring the park's rhododendrons and dahlia beds add color outside the glass, and on summer weekends the lawns fill with picnics and music. Fit: rainy days, families, couples, plant lovers and anyone exploring Capitol Hill.